Duduzile Zuma could be prosecuted for ‘We see you’ tweets

A legal expert says former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, could find herself on the receiving end of another criminal complaint over a series of controversial Twitter posts about the blaze which tore through the parliamentary precinct in Cape Town.

Last year, the Democratic Alliance (DA) opened a case of incitement to violence against Zuma-Sambudla after she shared a number of posts on Twitter – where she has more than 175 000 followers – seemingly egging on the wanton violence that erupted in July in the wake of her father’s incarceration.

Also Read: Parliament fire a plot to help Ramaphosa, says Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla

And legal expert Dr Llewleyn Curlewis says the recent posts about the fire at the weekend could see history repeat itself.

No-one has so far been arrested or charged in connection with the case that was opened against Zuma-Sambudla last year. But Curlewis said yesterday he believed the comments were “unacceptable” – particularly in the current socio-political climate – and that they met the requirements for the crime of incitement and should come before a court.

“The question is merely: Is there a reasonable prospect of success?” Curlewis said yesterday, “Now that is not a very high threshold. And even if there is doubt, the rule of thumb is that you let the matter proceed to court and the magistrate or judge make a call rather than let somebody off the hook”.

He said all that was needed to get a case before a court was for somebody to file a complaint.

“If the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decides not to take the matter to court, the complainants are at least entitled to request a nolle prosequi and then they can potentially institute a private prosecution,” Curlewis said.

During the July unrest, Zuma-Sambudla reposted multiple videos and pictures of the violence accompanied by the words “we see you”. She took to social media with the same message last month after the High Court in Pretoria revoked her father’s medical parole and again at the weekend, when she posted pictures of the blaze accompanied by captions that read among others: “Cape Town…We See You! Amandla!” and “Give the guy a Bell’s”.

In an article on the subject of incitement published by Werksmans Attorneys after the July unrest, the firm emphasised that “noteworthy is the fact that the intention of the accused’s is irrelevant, what is relevant is whether or not a reasonable person would expect that the consequences of the accused’s conduct to be the incitement of public violence”.

Also Read: Is Dudu Zuma-Sambudla at it again?

When it came to social media specifically, the firm said that “arguably when one makes a post available to the public and where the post contains words, speech or conduct that may have the effect of causing others to commit public violence, arguably, the aforementioned post may make one guilty of the offence of inciting public violence”.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za