Despite her expulsion from the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party), Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla insists she is not going anywhere, arguing that proper disciplinary processes were not followed when she was removed as a party member.
In an interview on the sidelines of Sunday's briefing, Zuma-Sambudla told the Mail & Guardian that she had neither seen nor spoken to her father, Jacob Zuma, who is the MK Party president, since her expulsion last week Thursday.
"I'm his daughter as well and we have never shied away from any conversations, so I will be asking what is happening. I am going to be honest, as a daughter, an activist and a member of the party," she told M&G, insisting that the leadership was trying to fragment her relationship with her father.
"I think that you can see it, I can see it and he can see it, My father is a chess player and a very smart man. I think he's okay and we are both at peace.
"I'm going nowhere. I'm okay. I'm at peace because I know we have done nothing wrong. We stand for the truth and we have always said that."
Speaking at a media briefing last Thursday, party secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo announced that the national officials, which included Zuma-Sambudla's father, had found her and former spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela guilty of violating the party's constitution and expelled them.
Zuma-Sambudla and Ndhlela said that was deliberately done by some national officials to isolate them from Zuma, because they were viewed as influential figures in his circle.
The pair were part of the founding members of the MK Party.
Speaking at a media briefing on Sunday regarding her expulsion, Zuma-Sambudla said she blamed members of the leadership and did not feel betrayed by her father but rather by the people around him.
She said the process used to expel them was unfair as they had not been subjected to a disciplinary hearing or given an opportunity to make representations before a disciplinary committee.
The MK Party has not had a national prosecutor for disciplinary processes since Prince Mokotedi left the party to join the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, led by former MK Party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu.
It remains unclear whether the party has removed Zuma-Sambudla as its signatory at the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and in Parliament.
In a letter dated 9 February to the Speaker of the National Assembly, party president Jacob Zuma confirmed that the only authorised signatories of the MK Party for correspondence with parliament were Zuma-Sambudla and the now-suspended chief whip, Seeng Mmabatho Mokoena-Zondi.
"Any further communication between the MK Party and Parliament will be conducted solely through the duly appointed and recognised party signatories as confirmed above. Correspondence or instructions from any other source do not carry authority and should not be acted upon," the letter read.
At last week's briefing, MK Party chairperson Nathi Nhleko said that if a member had been expelled or removed from a position, it meant they could no longer sign on behalf of the party's accounts, saying that was simply how the process worked.
Asked whether she was still a signatory for the MK Party at the IEC, Zuma-Sambudla said: "I think Nomvalo said in his first two weeks that he had to remove me. I haven't called the IEC and I have no idea whether I still am.”