Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. (Photo: MK Party/X)
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla was not entirely to blame for what her followers conspired to do in their private WhatsApp groups after reading her posts on X, during unrest in July 2021, state witness Gopaul Govender conceded under cross-examination on Monday.
“She was not part of the WhatsApp group; some of those participants are her followers on her Twitter group,” Govender said during cross-examination by advocate Dali Mpofu, SC, for Zuma-Sambudla.
“It would be wrong for me to say the accused before the court was part of WhatsApp; she was not, but participants of the group were indeed part of her followers.”
Zuma-Sambudla pleaded not guilty at the Durban High Court as the trial began into her alleged incitement role in the violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, triggered by the jailing of her father, former president Jacob Zuma, for contempt of court.
Govender, the first state witness in the trial, was tasked with coordinating investigations into the social media posts related to the unrest.
The court heard that about 103 people who were part of a WhatsApp group — including some who followed Zuma-Sambudla on X, then known as Twitter — had conspired in the destruction of property during the unrest. The state argues they did this following a series of posts by the former president’s daughter.
“I’m saying yes, it is the accused who said, but it is the follower who took it to WhatsApp,” Govender said under cross-examination.
“I cannot honestly say that the accused must be blamed. The follower is the one who would have taken either the message or the incitement, or whatever we call it, so I cannot say that she’s responsible for WhatsApp.”
The 2021 unrest broke out after the former president was arrested following a Constitutional Court ruling that he should serve 15 months in prison for contempt of court after he failed to appear before the Zondo commission inquiry into state capture.
More than 300 people were killed in the riots, and police said 69 people have been arrested for their role in the riots. But thus far, only one conviction has been secured.
Zuma-Sambudla has always maintained her innocence, accusing the National Prosecuting Authority of malicious prosecution, saying she was being used by the state to “settle political scores” with her father.
On 8 July 2021, Zuma-Sambudla posted: “Comrades, you have not failed President JG Zuma, but ANC has, but you will fail him if the fight for radical economic transformation stops, you will fail him if the fight for economic freedom stops and our struggle continues from outside, and we must intensify.”
In his evidence-in-chief on Monday, Govender testified that the post was the reason a McDonald’s outlet was burned down.
He said a cyber forensic expert, who did the actual analyses of the posts and is expected to testify later in the trial, would be better suited to testify to which messages incited Zuma-Sambudla’s followers.
Govender said Zuma-Sambudla posted 19 tweets containing videos which showed the widespread looting and destruction in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The court heard that in most of the tweets she would mention the location and add: “I See You“ or “ We See You”.
Mpofu wanted to know what in the posts constituted incitement to violence.
Mpofu asked: “Those thousands and thousands of people which posted that picture, have you said they must be charged? If I had posted the same picture and I said free Jacob Zuma, would that be incitement?”
Govender responded, saying, “No.”
Mpofu also questioned why the state only arrested his client earlier this year, four years after the fact.
The police had already established that Zuma-Sambudla, as far back as 2021, had no financial link to the unrest, nor was her phone number linked to any of the WhatsApp groups that perpetuated violence,” Mpofu said.
Govender admitted: “I am very much aware. You would have seen that in the Brookside Mall, others have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced, and others are in court, and others are still pending investigation.”
“All I could say is that these cases were prioritised because of the volume of cases, so they received attention in this period.”