Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla could be a strong player in parliament. Picture: Gallo Images/Lefty Shivambu
A legal analyst said the X [formally Twitter] posts by former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla may “suffice” in proving that she allegedly incited terrorism.
Zuma-Sambudla is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
The former president’s daughter will reportedly be charged in terms of Section 14 of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act.
Section 14 of the act 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.”
Legal analyst Benedict Phiri told 702 that it’s not often that anybody would be charged under this act.
ALSO READ: Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla to be charged under Terrorism Act
“Those are serious conduct that you must have partaken in or at least incited or some kind of participant for you to get charged under the Terrorism Act.”
The charges follow a criminal case opened by Forensics for Justice’s Paul O’Sullivan, who provided the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with a detailed forensic report documenting every tweet Zuma-Sambudla sent during the riots.
Phiri said the tweets may suffice in proving terrorism.
“It will to the extent that it can be proven that those tweets constituted an incitement in respect of any of the conduct in [the Terrorism Ac].
“I think it is interesting that Mr Paul O’Sullivan created this dossier on the basis of tweets because it is immediate evidence related to what Duduzile was actually undertaking under account. She may say that it wasn’t her that was tweeting, but she hasn’t said that up to now. But it may suffice, because that is the voice and the conduct through the medium of Twitter,” Phiri said.
Zuma-Sambudla took to X on Tuesday evening and posted: “WE SEE YOU”.
She used this expression during the July unrest that followed her father’s arrest in July 2021.
In a tweet then, Zuma-Sambudla said she “has no fear and will not be intimidated.”
“My Name Is Dudu Zuma. I am a daughter of a great man, The g.o.a.t of politics, Jacob Zuma. His Blood runs through my veins…I have no fear! I will not be intimidated! I have beaten the dogs, now the masters are coming out! We See You!!!”
More than 350 people were killed during the July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
It is alleged the anarchy was triggered by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma, who was in contempt of a Constitutional Court order.
During the weeklong mayhem, shops and factories were closed, and the total cost to the economy was said to be more than R50 billion.
ALSO READ: Zuma Foundation concerned the former president’s children becoming targets
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