'It's a traumatic experience ... I take responsibility': Duduzane Zuma on fatal crash

Duduzane Zuma said on Wednesday that he sympathised with the families of the two people who died when his Porsche collided with a minibus taxi in 2014.

"It's a traumatic experience for everybody. I was fortunate to walk away with my life. It does have an effect for my involvement in the accident. I take responsibility for what happened. I do sympathise with people who were affected," Zuma said when he took the stand at the Randburg Magistrate's Court.

He is facing a charge of culpable homicide, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Minibus taxi passengers Phumzile Dube and Jeanette Mashaba died after Zuma’s car crashed into a minibus taxi on the M1 south near the Grayston turnoff in Johannesburg.

In his previous court appearance, Zuma had applied for a discharge. Magistrate Tebogo Thupaatlase found, however, that Zuma had a case to answer.

Presenting his defence, Zuma told the court that he did not know that he had collided with another vehicle after he lost control of his car.

He said his car spun after he had hit a puddle and it came to a dead stop.

"I'm not sure what happened when the car was spinning," he said.

Zuma said the car spun and veered to the left, from the right hand lane, after he hit a puddle of water on the road. 

He said he did not see the pool of water before losing control of the vehicle.

"It would have been difficult to spot the pool of water. It was raining, there was poor visibility. Seeing pools of water is impossible in poor lighting," Zuma said.

When he hit the water, Zuma said it was difficult to control his car. "In my perspective it was impossible to avoid what happened."

Zuma said that he had reduced his speed from 120km/h when it started to rain heavily.

The trial continues.