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. 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