DURBAN socialite, businessman and self-proclaimed prince Sifiso Zulu is refusing to go to jail.

Zulu was supposed to hand himself over to Westville Prison officials within 48 hours of his failed appeal on Friday against a culpable homicide conviction and three-year sentence.

However, his attorney Lonwabo Dandala yesterday afternoon said Zulu would remain a free man.

He said that Zulu was not informed that Judge Piet Koen had delivered his judgment on Friday.

Dandala would advise Zulu if he should hand himself over to prison authorities or challenge the court's decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal after he had studied Koen's judgment.

But prison officials are losing no sleep over Zulu's freedom.

Provincial department of correctional services (DCS) spokeswoman Nokuthula Zikhali said yesterday that Zulu had not reported to any prison in the province by 4.30pm yesterday and that it was now up to the court to deal with bringing him in.

However, National Prosecuting Authority provincial spokesman Natasha Ramkisson said the matter was out of the NPA's ambit and referred queries to the DCS.

Koen found that Zulu was the driver of a black BMW X5 which sped through a red traffic light and crashed into a bakkie, killing two people and injuring 10 in March 2008.

Zulu maintained his innocence throughout his trial, claiming that his friend was the driver. He had given two different names to court.

Suspended national police commissioner Bheki Cele, then KwaZulu-Natal safety MEC, was accused of protecting Zulu because police failed to arrest him. Cele was just one of Zulu's powerful friends in politics and business. - Additional reporting by Nivashni Nair