State: Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla acted as influencer with 124,000 followers, incited violence

The State on Monday, during the trial of Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) member of Parliament, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, alleged that the July 2021 civil unrest was well coordinated and instigated nationally.

The trial was attended by Zuma-Sambudla's father Jacob Zuma and several party supporters.

Zuma-Sambudla faces three counts emanating from her social media posts during the civil unrest. Count one is incitement to commit the offence of terrorism, with the state alleging that between 29 June and July 2021, in various places within the country, Zuma-Sambudla unlawfully and intentionally incited others to commit terrorism by engaging in terrorist activities.

On count two, which is incitement to commit violence, the state alleges Zuma-Sambudla incited, instigated, commanded  or procured other persons to unlawfully assemble with common intent to forcibly disturb the public peace or tranquility or to invade the rights of other persons. On count three, the state also accuses her of violating Section 17 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 17 of 1956 which deals with the illegal assembling of persons with the intention to cause a riot.

The State called its first witness Major General Gopal Gounden from the Directorate of  Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI), also known as Hawks.

He was the coordinator of the team that investigated the unrest. Gounden told the court that there were 164 WhatsApp groups that were created specifically to instigate unrest as a direct response to Zuma’s incarceration.

However, he said after investigation, police focused on eight WhatsApp groups which he said actively ran and coordinated the unrest. He stated that in these groups there were direct instructions to people on the ground on what to do and when. He further revealed that the most active groups were the ones in eThekwini, which had 316 people.

"There were two WhatsApp groups in eThekwini. One was in the INK area which is Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu. We discovered 103 persons of interest in these groups. The unrest was well coordinated. Some of these groups were created around 29 June, 2021 which is the date when the Constitutional Court ordered the arrest of Zuma,” said Gounden.

The State argued that Zuma-Sambudla, because of her public status as Zuma’s daughter, coupled with her 124,000 X followers, assumed the title of social media influencer therefore what she wrote on her page was taken seriously by people. The Stated argued that her tweets before and after Zuma’s arrest in July 2021 incited public violence. 

Zuma-Sambudla pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The case continues.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za