South Africa: State To Charge Duduzile Zuma-Samdudla Under Terrorism Act

State to charge Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla under Terrorism Act accreditation Andisiwe Makinana, Bongekile Macupe and Kaveel Singh Comments Comments gifting Gift article add bookmark Bookmark 09:10 MK Party MP Duduzile Zuma is set to appear in court on Thursday for her involvement in the July 2021 unrest. (Luke Daniel/News24) MK Party MP Duduzile Zuma is set to appear in court on Thursday for her involvement in the July 2021 unrest. (Luke Daniel/News24) Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla will be charged with inciting terrorism that led to the deaths of over 350 people in July 2021. MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told News24 that Zuma-Sambudla would present herself to the Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday. News24 learnt from a family insider that the charges against her centre around the social media posts she made at the time, encouraging the unrest. The daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, will be charged with inciting terrorism that led to the deaths of 354 people in July 2021. News24 can reveal that Zuma-Sambudla will face a charge of incitement to commit terrorism when she appears in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday. A source said she would be charged in terms of Section 14 of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. The section reads: "Any person who threatens, attempts, conspires with any other person; or aids, abets, induces, incites, instigates, instructs or commands, counsels or procures another person, to commit an offence in terms of this chapter, is guilty of an offence." Attempts to get hold of Zuma-Sambudla were unsuccessful on Tuesday. The charges follow a criminal case opened by Forensics for Justice's Paul O'Sullivan in the wake of the July 2021 riots. This is one of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's tweets in the July 2021 unrest, which has landed her in trouble. (X/Screenshot) O'Sullivan provided the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with a detailed forensic report documenting every single tweet Zuma-Sambudla sent during the riots. MK Party (MKP) spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela initially confirmed to News24 on Tuesday that Zuma-Sambudla's attorney had been served with the charges last week and that they were related to her involvement in the July 2021 unrest. However, Ndhlela later changed his tune and said Zuma-Sambudla was not aware of the charges against her, and that she would only find out when she presented herself to the court on Thursday. He said: We do not have the charge sheet, so we can't say what the charges are, exactly. But she will present herself on Thursday, and I suppose on Thursday, we will get the indictment and the charge sheet, and we will know exactly what the charges will be. News24 sent questions to KwaZulu-Natal NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara about when Zuma-Sambudla was charged and what they were. She, however, failed to respond to the questions sent via text and numerous follow-up phone calls. A family insider claimed Zuma-Sambudla had been charged with making comments on social media which led to the July 2021 unrest. Meanwhile, Zuma-Sambudla took to X on Tuesday evening and posted, "WE SEE YOU". This is an expression she used during the July unrest that followed her father's arrest in July 2021. Zuma-Sambudla was vocal on X during the unrest, often posting pictures of the destruction and carnage with the caption: "KZN, we see you." In a now deleted post on X, the MKP posted a poster on Tuesday announcing that Zuma-Sambudla would appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court regarding the July 2021 unrest. "This is an invitation to mobilise all ground forces to attend in numbers," read a caption accompanying the post. READ | Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla to appear in court over July 2021 unrest involvement, says MKP The MKP's eThekwini region also announced that it would lead a "peaceful picket" in support of Zuma-Sambudla when she appears in court. The region has invited all members of the party to a "#HandsOffDuduzileZuma" picket. Ndhlela told News24 that Zuma-Sambudla, who is also an MP and serves as the chairperson of the Southern Caucus of the Pan-African Parliament, was in high spirits. "She is a law-abiding citizen, and that is why she is presenting herself. If she was evading the law, she would not present herself to court. The fact that she is presenting herself means that she is a law-abiding citizen; she represents the law, and she will present herself," he said. Former MKP youth leader Bonginkosi Khanyile also took to X on Tuesday and shared that he would be at the Durban Magistrate's Court to support Zuma-Sambudla. Khanyile is on trial for inciting the deadly 2021 July riots. July 2021 unrest instigators The July unrest unfolded after police arrested Zuma, sending him to the Estcourt Correctional Centre. Large swathes of KwaZulu-Natal, including smaller towns, from Ladysmith to KwaDukuza, and bigger areas like Durban and Umhlanga, were plagued by groups who strategically blocked roads with tyres and set them alight. As this was happening, Zuma-Sambudla began a barrage of her infamous "We see you" tweets. dudu The MK Party shared this poster on its X page, informing its members of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's appearance in court. (@MkhontoweSizwex/X formerly Twitter) She would use the phrase as she retweeted instances of extreme violence, including a video she deleted depicting an individual firing an automatic rifle at a poster of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Soon after the violence died down and attempts at an insurrection were thwarted, then-police minister Bheki Cele stated that there were 20 instigators who were the masterminds behind the unrest. Many politicians and commentators believed Zuma-Sambudla would emerge as one of the alleged instigators due to her brazen and perceived inflammatory tweets. The "instigators" faced charges of conspiracy to commit public violence, incitement to commit public violence, and arson. Mum on investigations Neither the NPA nor the Hawks would go into detail about whether Zuma-Sambudla would be arrested. In 2022, KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona would not comment on who the instigators were, only saying that things were "unfolding". Asked about Zuma-Sambudla, Senona was guarded: "You shall remember that a person has deposed an affidavit against the daughter of the former head of state. That investigation is continuing." He added: At this stage, we don't want to divulge the status of the investigation. But once we have finalised the investigation, we will present our case to the National Prosecuting Authority to make a prosecutorial decision. In October of that year, KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions Elaine Zungu said investigations were still under way to determine whether Zuma-Sambudla had committed a crime when she posted "inflammatory" messages on social media. "That matter is still under investigation. These matters are not easy to deal with and are not dealt with overnight," is all Zungu said at the time. SA Human Rights Commission investigation During testimony at the SA Human Rights Commission's investigation into the unrest, Jean le Roux of the Digital Forensic Research Lab said Zuma-Sambudla had engaged in the most "celebratory" posts during the unrest. Le Roux testified: "[Hers] was one of the accounts that was most engaging in the celebratory parts of unrest. She would take posts of buildings burning and have a tweet below it saying: 'Amandla, we see you.' duduzile zuma This is one of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's tweets in the July 2021 unrest, which has landed her in trouble. (X/Screenshot) "She did this quite prolifically throughout the period of the unrest. In some cases, she was also the one that took truck protests from the year before and attached that same statement to those tweets, giving the impression that these are protests happening in support of her father and [against] his incarceration." The eight days of mayhem in July 2021 were seen as the worst civil unrest since 1994, as mobs stormed shopping malls, warehouses and factories, looting and torching properties. Similar incidents, albeit on a smaller scale, were reported in Gauteng. The devastation dented an economy already brought to its knees by the Covid-19 pandemic, which sparked a jobs bloodbath across multiple sectors and weakened growth prospects. The events cost some R50 billion in lost output, according to the Presidency at the time. You have invested in the future News24 has been there for South Africa's defining moments over the last 25 years, and you've been right beside us. Your support of trusted journalism has sustained us, and now it will propel us to continue to strive to inform, inspire and empower as we try to build a better future for us all. Discover News24

Sudan: On Repeat

On Repeat Sudan International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan will seek arrest warrants for individuals accused of atrocities in Sudan’s western Darfur region, an announcement that comes amid international concerns that genocide and other war crimes are being committed in the country’s nearly two-year conflict, the Guardian reported. On Monday, Khan told the United Nations Security Council that “criminality is accelerating in Darfur.” He alleged that the fighting has targeted civilians, subjected women and girls to sexual violence, and left many communities destroyed. The ICC prosecutor stressed that the allegations come from “a hard-edged analysis based on verified evidence,” but gave no details on the specific crimes or the individuals the ICC wants to detain. Sudan erupted in civil war in April 2023 following a feud between the country’s military leader and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict initially began in the capital Khartoum, but later spread into other regions, including Darfur. More than 20 years ago, the western Sudanese region became synonymous with genocide and war crimes during a brutal conflict that saw government forces of then-President Omar al-Bashir and its Janjaweed Arab militia allies launch a brutal war against non-Arab populations there. Around 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were displaced. Currently, the ICC has outstanding arrest warrants for Sudanese officials and leaders involved in an earlier conflict in Darfur, including al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019 and is currently in jail. During the UN meeting, Khan warned that the current conflict bears “very clear echoes” to the events that occurred decades ago in Darfur, according to Euronews. Observers noted that Khan’s comments came weeks after the ICC prosecutor told the UN Security Council that there were grounds to believe that both Sudan’s army and the RSF – which evolved from the Janjaweed – may be committing genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes in Darfur. Before leaving office, the Biden administration imposed sanctions against Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader, Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo for their roles in the conflict, the Middle East Eye noted. Share this story

Algeria- A Virtual War

A Virtual War Algeria French authorities arrested at least seven Algerian ultranationalist social media influencers this month for inciting violence against Algerian dissidents and calling for terrorist attacks across France, as relations between Paris and its former colony continue to deteriorate, Politico reported. According to French officials, a handful of online influencers, some of them living in France, have built large audiences, with as many as 800,000 followers inside and outside of France. In some cases, they have targeted France-based opponents of the Algerian regime. In others, they have called for terror attacks on French soil. French officials, who have been grappling with terror attacks on Paris and other cities for a decade, often perpetrated by nationals of former colonies such as Morocco, Tunisia, or Algeria, are nervous, Politico said. The influencers are “profiteering from a context of heightened tensions between France and Algeria,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told L’Express, adding that the online incitement of violence is fostered by the complicated, centuries-long relationship between France and Algeria. France’s brutal rule of Algeria lasted for 132 years and ended with Algerian independence after a bloody war in 1962. More recently, tensions between the two countries have been fueled by migration issues and French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent backing of Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed region of Western Sahara, the Associated Press reported. Algeria has long supported independence for that region and afterward withdrew its ambassador from Paris. Further straining relations is Algeria’s arrest of French-Algerian writer and Algerian regime critic Boualem Sansal in November. Algeria detained Sansal on national security charges, prompting Macron to accuse Algiers of “dishonoring itself.” France, meanwhile, has not accused Algeria of supporting these influencers. None of the posts have yet resulted in violence. France is home to more than two million Algerian immigrants and descendants of immigrants, according to the French national statistics institute Insee. Share this story

Kenya: 82 Anti-Government Protestors Have Vanished

The Disappearing Acts Kenya Last summer, the so-called Gen-Z protests erupted in Kenya against a controversial finance bill pushed by the president to raise taxes on everyday essentials, an attempt to cut the country’s debt burden and bring its finances under control. Kenyans, struggling with high inflation, were outraged by the measure. Tens of thousands took to the streets in protests with the demonstrations turning violent – dozens were killed by security forces. Even though President William Ruto scaled back the bill afterward, the protests became a significant threat to his presidency. Then the protesters began disappearing. “(We) continue to monitor with concern the worrying pattern of abductions in several parts of our country … perpetuated clandestinely, with unidentified armed persons,” wrote the Kenya National Human Rights Commission in a report last month, noting “that those abducted have been vocal dissidents.” The commission documented 82 disappearances of government critics from June to December, further outraging the public, leading the courts to threaten the authorities with jail, and bringing even more protesters out into the streets – and another violent crackdown. One of those people who disappeared was Aslam Longton who had helped organize protests against the bill in the town of Kitengela near the capital, Nairobi. He had been warned by security officials to stop his activism. He didn’t. In August, he was forced into a car, hooded and handcuffed, and taken to an unknown location where he was held in dark cells, beaten, and questioned. “I was very scared,” Aslam told the BBC. “When the door was opened that man would come with a fiber cable and a metal rod. “I was scared he had come to beat me or finish me off.” He was released 32 days later, without being taken to court, given a lawyer, or the opportunity to speak with his family, who were frantic. After being released, he was told he would be killed if he spoke to the media. Three months later, the government said it was a lawful arrest. And Ruto and other government and police officials for months denied any abductions, calling them “fake news.” But in December, Ruto admitted and promised to stop the kidnappings after public protests and concern from Western allies grew. Still, critics say, he has declined to take responsibility for these extrajudicial disappearances, instead admonishing parents to “take care” of their children. These so-called children were the base of voters that propelled Ruto to the presidency in September 2022 as an agent of change, CNN noted. Meanwhile, a high court judge has ordered top security officials to appear in court this week to answer questions on the matter or face jail for contempt of court charges, after they failed to appear twice when summoned to account for the abductions. Already in December, the court had forced two top police officials to produce seven social media activists who disappeared. Five reappeared soon after. Still, the bodies of people showing signs of torture continued to turn up in rivers, forests, abandoned quarries, and mortuaries, wrote Human Rights Watch. And despite the announcement of police investigations into these murders or disappearances, no one has been charged, let alone convicted, for carrying them out, the organization added. In a detailed Reuters investigation, however, killings by security officials were often “mischaracterized” as road accidents or drownings or in morgue logs to cover their tracks, police officers told the newswire. Some Kenyans say they are shocked that such a situation has resurfaced, noting that these abductions were hallmarks of prior Kenyan regimes in the 1980s and 1990s. Still, others note how now, with the advent of social media, Kenyans are far more aware of their rights, able to organize, and far more difficult to repress. Still, even government officials are having issues. After hearing that his son had been seized by armed, hooded men, Kenya’s then attorney-general, Justin Muturi, approached the president. Justin Muturi told the Times that Ruto agreed to phone his spy chief. An hour later, his son was free. Shaken by that episode and now openly critical of the government, he began receiving threats including impeachment but said he must speak out. “We have seen so many young people held, kidnapped, extrajudicial killings,” he told the British newspaper. “We can’t say we don’t know about what is going on.” Muturi said he sympathizes with those families whose loved ones are still missing. “I didn’t know if he was dead or not,” he added, referring to his son’s disappearance. “I try and put myself in the shoes (of those) who can’t access the president and whose children are still missing.”

South Sudan Is In A Crisis

The War Over Peace South Sudan More than 30 top hotels recently filed a lawsuit against the government of South Sudan because it failed to settle bills worth $60 million that it accrued from hosting peace talks delegations years ago. The problem is, South Sudan is broke. It’s so broke that in December, the East African country was scheduled to hold an election, the first since it won independence from Sudan in 2011, but was forced to postpone it to 2026, partly because it has failed to execute a constitution or a census – but mostly it couldn’t pay for it. That’s not surprising considering the young country is facing the worst economic crisis since independence, according to the International Rescue Committee. As a result, civil servants and state employees, including soldiers and teachers, haven’t been paid in a year. And now, in spite of a peace agreement that mostly halted a civil war in 2018, some worry that the economic crisis will lead the country to again explode into conflict within itself when the peace deal expires in February. “When you remove the glue, it can all break down,” Daniel Akech of the International Crisis Group told the Economist. Two years after winning independence in 2011, civil war broke out after the president, Salva Kiir of the Dinka ethnic group, and the vice president, Riek Machar of the Nuer group, began feuding. About 400,000 people died in the conflict, more than 2.4 million people fled the country, and another 2.3 million were displaced internally. Much of the fighting stopped after the peace agreement in 2018 which divided power between the two sides. Still, not all groups that eventually got involved in the conflict signed on to the agreement, which is why peace talks are continuing in fits and starts, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, the situation in the country is dire: It’s facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with about 80 percent of the population experiencing a “high level of food insecurity” in November, an increase of 7 percent over 2022, the World Bank reported. At the same time, the population faces devastating droughts and flooding, worsening the food security situation, ruining livelihoods, causing disease outbreaks, and contributing to displacement. Alongside this, the country of 11 million is grappling with 800,000 refugees that crossed the border from Sudan after war erupted there in 2023. The war in Sudan is a big reason why South Sudan is broke: It has cut off most cross-border trade and more critically, closed its main oil pipeline that carried two-thirds of South Sudan’s oil exports to the Red Sea coast. Oil exports make up as much as 98 percent of government revenue. As a result, the economy shrank by more than a quarter in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund, while inflation rose to 120 percent – among the highest rates in the world. Now, to turn things around, Kiir’s transitional government says it wants to diversify its economy and capitalize on its mineral riches, and maybe even bypass Sudan by working with China to build an alternative pipeline to Djibouti via Ethiopia, Bloomberg noted. None of this, however, will alleviate the economic crisis in the short term, analysts say, or the security crisis that is brewing. Besides a rise in kidnapping and extortion by gangs and unpaid soldiers, an armed insurgency in the south threatens civilians and endangers the peace process, the Council on Foreign Relations wrote. There has also been a rise in violence stemming from community-based militias and civil defense groups, driven by border disputes and sectarianism, according to the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Writing in the Conversation, South Sudan expert Steven C. Roach said the country won’t be able to get on track in its current trajectory and with its current leadership. For example, he believes the multiple delays in holding elections over the years are likely due to President Kiir’s fear of the consequences of losing power: He would likely be tried by a war crimes court due to be set up by the 2018 peace agreement. He also detailed how Kiir has used his political and economic power to divide the opposition and repress civil society groups, journalists, and the opposition while having allowed corruption to run rampant to keep the elites on his side. “Kiir steered South Sudan to independence,” he wrote. “However … he has to answer for sowing division and fostering violence and corruption that has diminished hope for long-term peace, democracy, and national unity.”

Police Use Excessive Force In Kenya-42 Dead

Contradicting Statements Kenya Autopsy reports from Kenya showed discrepancies in the deaths of protesters during anti-government demonstrations in June and July, with findings contradicting police records, sparking renewed scrutiny of law enforcement practices and allegations of systematic cover-ups, Reuters reported Monday. Recent reports collected by the newswire showed that police would record deaths inaccurately in morgue logbooks, often attributing them to “road accidents” or “mob justice” despite evidence of police involvement. In one case, 19-year-old Charles Owino was recorded by police as a road accident victim, but an autopsy confirmed he died from a gunshot wound to the head during protests in the district of Kitengela on July 16. Similarly, Shaquille Obienge, 21, was logged as another road accident fatality, but the government’s autopsy revealed he was shot in the neck. Morgue records also showed further inconsistencies: Between late June and September, only nine gunshot deaths were recorded, despite evidence of police shootings during protests. In contrast, deaths attributed to “mob justice” and “drownings” surged to 94, compared with 59 during the same period in the previous year. Amnesty International and other rights groups suspect these classifications are part of a cover-up to mask the extent of police violence. The protests – dubbed the “Gen-Z protests” due to their youthful demographic – erupted in response to tax hikes and alleged corruption in government. Officials said the demonstrations left at least 42 people dead, with rights groups alleging that police used excessive force, including live ammunition. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported 82 enforced disappearances between June and December, with 29 individuals still unaccounted for. Among the missing are young protesters and politically active individuals, some allegedly targeted by a covert police unit linked to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. In a New Year’s address, President William Ruto acknowledged “instances of excessive and extrajudicial actions” by security personnel – but stopped short of detailing accountability measures, Africanews wrote. Meanwhile, families of victims have called for justice, as human rights organizations demand independent investigations. With mounting pressure on Kenyan authorities to address police misconduct and ensure accountability, the crisis has underscored a deepening mistrust between citizens and law enforcement, further inflamed by economic challenges and public discontent with governance.