Dudu Zuma-Sambudla drove local Twitter campaign on Russian war – report

The daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, was identified in a UK research report as an instrumental person for a Russian-backed Twitter campaign drumming up support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bloomberg reports a Center for Information Resilience (CIR) study found that “Zuma-Sambudla single-handedly drove most of the South African campaign leg”.

The researchers used posts from Zuma-Sambudla’s Twitter account, including photographs and the discussion in South African media of the tweets as evidence that she owns it.

Close ties with Russia

Zuma-Sambudla also appears to have close ties with the country, CIR said.

“She was an early adopter of the campaign hashtag before its official launch and visited Russia toward the tail-end of the campaign,” it said.

Posts in support of Russia appeared to come from her account as soon as the country invaded Ukraine.

Her tweets often showed her father and Russian President Vladimir Putin together, herself in Russia, and denigrating South Africa’s current leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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‘Copypasta’

The CIR says her account was used as “copypasta,” meaning it was copied and pasted by other accounts using the same hashtag.

One example was a list of places the US had bombed, and another was a crowd of Putin supporters waving Russian flags.

“As patient zero on so much of this content that was then replicated through copypasta around the internet, it stands to reason she wasn’t just making it up for fun,” CIR vice-president Nina Jankowicz told Bloomberg.

“She was a clear driver of the campaign and the origin point for many of the tweets that were replicated around the South African information environment, and eventually even further afield,” Jankowicz said.

Zuma-Sambudla reportedly failed to answer calls and didn’t respond to text messages from the publication.

Mzwanele Manyi, who has acted as the spokesperson for her father’s foundation, also reportedly told Bloomberg he doesn’t represent the family.

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Fertile ground to stoke sympathy for Russia

South Africa is seen as fertile ground to bolster sympathy for Russia because of the country’s historic ties during the struggle against apartheid.

The governing African National Congress has maintained ties with Russia’s current leaders since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

The ANC Youth League, a strong supporter of Jacob Zuma, sent observers to a Russia-backed referendum on annexing territories in eastern Ukraine last year, with its delegates praising the process.

On the international stage, however, South Africa has come under fire from the US and European nations — among its biggest trading partners — for refusing to condemn Russia’s war with Ukraine.

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The country has abstained from voting in United Nations resolutions and hosted military exercises with the Russian navy over the anniversary of the invasion.

Zuma-Sambudla, a controversial and prominent figure on South African Twitter, has a considerable following with about 237 000 followers.

She is also unafraid to leverage her influence on social media to carry out attacks on her father’s perceived enemies.

She was active on Twitter during the 2021 July unrest in which more than 350 people died in riots spurred by Zuma’s imprisonment for contempt of court.

South Africa deepened its ties with Russia by gaining entry into the Brics bloc of emerging nations during Zuma’s tenure, popularly known as “the nine wasted years”.

The group initially only included Brazil, Russia, India and China. Zuma also tried to push through a nuclear-power contract with Russia that, if fully implemented, could have cost as much as $100 billion. 

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