Zuma's son 'Edward' in court, signs maintenance agreement

Pietermaritzburg - South African President Jacob Zuma's son, Edward, owned up to his responsibilities and signed a maintenance agreement of R5 000 a month for his son.

According to the Sunday Independent, Zuma went to the Pietermaritzburg Maintenance Court last week to resolve the issue. However, he claims that bungling by police led to an arrest warrant not being served on him.

But the newspaper reports that a third duplicate warrant had been executed and it was due to be served on Zuma by police on Thursday but he beat them to it.

This comes after the same newspaper published a story last Sunday that Zuma had managed to evade arrest for the past seven months after failing to respond to several subpoenas to appear in court for child maintenance.

As reported by News24 at the time, the Sunday Independent stated that the warrant of arrest was issued on 23 June by the Pietermaritzburg Maintenance Court and had to be served by police in Durban North where Edward lives.

However, this has not happened despite repeated attempts by the attorneys, acting for the child's mother, to get police to serve the warrant.

The newspaper reports that at least eight subpoenas to appear in court were issued to Edward between 18 March and 23 June last year but all were ignored. A warrant of arrest was then issued and forwarded to the Durban North police for delivery. However, no one served it.

Provincial police spokesperson Thulani Zwane told the newspaper that police would investigate the matter.

According to the child's mother, Edward acknowledges the child as his own and visits him but does not contribute in any way to his maintenance.

Edward meanwhile told the newspaper that he had no knowledge of the subpoenas or of the warrant of arrest.