Zulu must prove that he is broke

After failing to prove his innocence this week on two culpable homicide charges, Prince Sifiso Zulu will now have to prove that he does not earn much from his directorships and memberships of 27 companies, including Emtateni Logistics which has made R26.4 million from parking meters in Durban.

He was once the toast of the town and the blue-eyed boy of business in Durban, but this week Zulu was portrayed as a blatant liar by Magistrate Thomas Nhleko, who found Zulu guilty for his part in a horrific crash on March 29, 2008, that claimed the lives of two members of the All Souls Harbour Ministry.

Zulu will be sentenced next month after being found guilty on two charges of culpable homicide after he denied being the driver of the BMW involved, and also guilty of reckless and negligent driving and failing to perform the duties of a driver after an accident, and of drunk driving.

Next week, however, Zulu will need to back up claims that things have become so bad financially that he had to borrow money to pay for a lawyer to help stop the provisional sequestration placed on him by the Durban High Court after an application by Ithala Development Finance Corporation. Zulu and a former business partner owe the bank R4.6 million.

But according to a company register search, Zulu is still the active director or member of 27 of 50 private and Section 21 companies and close corporations that he has served on over the past decade.

This includes still being a director of Emtateni Logistics, the company which landed the multi-million rand parking meter contract with eThekwini Municipality.

The eThekwini Transport Authority's Carlos Estevez said: "Money collected at the meters to the end of 2009 is approximately R26.4 million."

From this, R11.3m is a fixed and guaranteed payment to the municipality. "All income from meters goes to a contractor," he said.

The current contract will run until November 2012. The contract should have been completed this year, having originally commenced on June 1, 2005 but the contract had to be renegotiated.

Zulu is also still registered as an active director of (uShaka) Durban Marine Theme Park, Zulu and Airey Supplies, Mageba Consulting, Integrated Capital, SCA Coastal Holidays, CMH Luxury Motors (Umhlanga) and Coastlands ICC Hotel which was intended to be a four-star, 220-room hotel next to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.

Zulu last week argued that Ithala should have investigated whether there was any value attached to his many director and member positions.

Zulu was once the icon of black business in Durban and honoured with one of the city's most prestigious entrepreneurial positions as the president of the Durban Chamber of Commerce.