Blitz Bureau
PRETORIA: Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma,has appeared in court on terrorism charges over her alleged involvement in the 2021 riots that left more than 300 people dead.
Violence, chaos, and fear ripped through the port city of Durban, then spread to Gauteng, after Zuma’s jailing sparked intense protests over four years ago.
Zuma-Sambudla, a controversial figure in her own right, was accused of sharing incendiary social media posts that fuelled the civil unrest. The arrest comes as a “result of a meticulous investigation” said Brig ThandiMbambo., spokesperson for the Hawks elite police unit.
Zuma-Sambudla handed herself in to Durban Central police station to face charges under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act and incitement to commit violence, the police said.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the investigation had taken such a long time because the case was “complex” and “unique”.
“It is the first time that the NPA is charging a person based on content posted on what we call X, which was previously known as Twitter, for content that we consider to amount to incitement to commit terrorism,” the News24 site quoted him as saying.
Zuma-Sambudla told the court that she intended to plead not guilty to the charges.She also said that there was no evidence linking her to the riots.
The case has been postponed to March for trial in the Durban High Court and she has been released on bail. Supporters of her father’s party uMkhontoWeSizwe (MK), of which she is a senior member, gathered at the courtroom to rally behind her. Zuma was also present and gave a speech.
“They are now arresting my child because they don’t like her, nor do they like her father, or the party that he leads. Are we going to keep quiet?” he said. This is not the first time Zuma-Sambudla’s name has been brought up in connection to the 2021 riots, which are considered one of the bloodiest episodes in post-apartheid South Africa.
