FILE PHOTO: Duduzane Zuma, next to his father, former South African president Jacob Zuma, looks on ahead of his appearance at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane pleaded not guilty in a Johannesburg court on Tuesday to culpable homicide and negligent driving relating to a fatal car accident in 2014.

Duduzane Zuma, driving a Porsche sports car, crashed into a minivan taxi on a highway near Sandton in Johannesburg in February 2014, killing one woman and injuring another woman who later died in hospital.

Duduzane, now 35, was charged last year with two counts of culpable homicide - South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter -and one count of negligent driving in the accident.

Prosecutors later withdrew one count of culpable homicide because the second woman’s death was linked to natural causes, not the accident.

Culpable homicide carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and no prescribed minimum sentence.

Duduzane initially avoided prosecution over the accident after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided in 2015 not to charge him. However, the NPA reversed its decision last year after a rights group threatened to privately prosecute Zuma.

The change of decision also came shortly after Duduzane’s father was ousted as president of South Africa.