|
85 | 85 | "early retirement", |
86 | 86 | "defence drc" |
87 | 87 | ] |
| 88 | + }, |
| 89 | + "V1_1": { |
| 90 | + "authors": [ |
| 91 | + "Tania Broughton" |
| 92 | + ], |
| 93 | + "body": { |
| 94 | + "summary": [], |
| 95 | + "sections": [ |
| 96 | + { |
| 97 | + "headline": [], |
| 98 | + "paragraphs": [ |
| 99 | + "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla had been on the state’s radar long before the July 2021 riots, which her advocate Dali Mpofu referred to as police “spying” on her.", |
| 100 | + "This emerged during day one of the trial against former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, an MK Party MP, who is accused of “terrorism” and inciting violence through a series of social media messages she posted before and during the 2021 July unrest, which left 350 people dead in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.", |
| 101 | + "Zuma-Sambudla pleaded not guilty to the charges when she appeared before Durban high court judge Mbuzeni Mathenjwa on Monday.", |
| 102 | + "Her father sat in the front row of the public gallery, along with other MK Party supporters.", |
| 103 | + "The indictment claims that the unrest was sparked by the jailing of Zuma, as ordered by the Constitutional Court after he refused to comply with its order that he appear before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture.", |
| 104 | + "Zuma-Sambudla and other supporters openly criticised this, using social media to organise, plan, incite and coordinate violent incidents.", |
| 105 | + "At her earlier bail application, she did not deny sending some of the messages, but said it was nonsensical and petty to say that people were influenced by them.", |
| 106 | + "She said the state was clutching at straws and its case against her was weak.", |
| 107 | + "The first witness at the trial was Hawks head Major-Gen Gopaul Govender, who was appointed as the national co-ordinator for the investigation into the civil arrest.", |
| 108 | + "He said Zuma-Sambudla had been a “person of interest” a long time before July 8, when the violence erupted following the incarceration of Jacob Zuma for contempt of court.", |
| 109 | + "In his evidence in chief, and under cross-examination by Mpofu, he said after the apex court had ruled, on June 29 2021, that Zuma must go to jail, there had been “intelligence gathering at a high level to monitor the temperature” in the country.", |
| 110 | + "Zuma-Sambudla had been flagged because she was an influential social media user and, on June 30, had posted to her 124,000 followers, loosely translated, “Comrades, the time to fight in this arena with the mobile phone is over.”", |
| 111 | + "She had then tweeted that the fight for radical economic transformation must be intensified “on the outside”. Then, in a series of 19 tweets, she had shared videos of the violence with words “we see you” or “I see you”.", |
| 112 | + "He said these words could be viewed as being supportive of the violence and chaos.", |
| 113 | + "Govender said the investigation revealed that of the three Twitter accounts in her name, two were fake.", |
| 114 | + "He said not all of her followers were supportive of her messaging, with some calling her out, saying she was inciting violence and calling on her to “stop playing with people’s lives”.", |
| 115 | + "He said the investigation had shown international links to the violence coming from Cuba.", |
| 116 | + "There were also people “providing finance”, but he conceded under cross-examination that she, Zuma-Sambudla, had been cleared early on in the investigation of having no direct links with the looters, had not been at any of the crime scenes, and her bank records had shown that she had not been involved in funding the unrest.", |
| 117 | + "She had also not been directly involved in any of the many WhatsApp groups which, according to Govender, were created for the sole purpose of communicating from a high level to the “ground forces” and whose members included politicians, community leaders, ward councillors and business people.", |
| 118 | + "Regarding the tweets, Mpofu adopted a “so what” attitude and said none of them incited violence.", |
| 119 | + "He said he himself followed his client on social media and questioned if that made him a criminal.", |
| 120 | + "He said the state had “drawn a blank” in its initial investigations and was now prosecuting his client on an “interpretation of her tweets”.", |
| 121 | + "“What is dangerous about a tweet that says ‘we see you’ with a video of burning premises, which had already happened and had been shared widely on social media?” he asked.", |
| 122 | + "Govender responded that it was “trending”. Zuma-Sambudla, a person of political influence and authority, the daughter of the former president, had shared it. Her posts carried weight, he said.", |
| 123 | + "“It was, like, encouraging, appreciating and supporting it,” Govender said.", |
| 124 | + "He said context and timing were important. Specifically on July 9 and 10, “South Africa was a crumbling disaster” with the majority of burning, looting and murders taking place in the first 72 hours.", |
| 125 | + "“I will argue that your evidence is completely unhelpful to the state, although it might be helpful to us. Nothing you have said sheds light on why the accused is sitting here,” said Mpofu.", |
| 126 | + "Earlier, in his opening statement, state advocate Yuri Gangai said the case was about the “power of words” and that Zuma-Sambudla, instead of being a voice to calm the nation, had not shown restraint.", |
| 127 | + "He said she had understood the extent of the volatility and had chosen to fuel it from the comfort of her home.", |
| 128 | + "The state is expected to call a cybercrime expert during the course of the next two weeks.", |
| 129 | + "On Tuesday, it will call Sarah-Jane Trent, executive director of Forensics for Justice (owned by Paul O’Sullivan), who laid the complaint against Zuma-Sambudla with the Hawks." |
| 130 | + ] |
| 131 | + } |
| 132 | + ] |
| 133 | + }, |
| 134 | + "images": [ |
| 135 | + { |
| 136 | + "versions": [ |
| 137 | + { |
| 138 | + "url": "https://www.timeslive.co.za/resizer/v2/DLJSG4UH2NFNZP2HPZCYAG4GSM?auth=91191352fb42187691cd436f4cb1d91783ac8963f243097ffa4a879d7a49e4fc&width=800&height=450&smart=true", |
| 139 | + "query_width": "max-width:800", |
| 140 | + "size": { |
| 141 | + "width": 800, |
| 142 | + "height": 450 |
| 143 | + }, |
| 144 | + "type": null |
| 145 | + }, |
| 146 | + { |
| 147 | + "url": "https://www.timeslive.co.za/resizer/v2/DLJSG4UH2NFNZP2HPZCYAG4GSM?auth=91191352fb42187691cd436f4cb1d91783ac8963f243097ffa4a879d7a49e4fc&width=1600&height=900&smart=true", |
| 148 | + "query_width": "max-width:1600", |
| 149 | + "size": { |
| 150 | + "width": 1600, |
| 151 | + "height": 900 |
| 152 | + }, |
| 153 | + "type": null |
| 154 | + } |
| 155 | + ], |
| 156 | + "is_cover": true, |
| 157 | + "description": "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla will face the music for her role in the July civil unrest when her terrorism trial is heard in November.", |
| 158 | + "caption": "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla will face the music for her role in the July civil unrest when her terrorism trial is heard in November.", |
| 159 | + "authors": [ |
| 160 | + "NPA" |
| 161 | + ], |
| 162 | + "position": 342 |
| 163 | + } |
| 164 | + ], |
| 165 | + "publishing_date": "2025-11-10 16:21:53+00:00", |
| 166 | + "title": "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s legal team argues state has been ‘spying’ on her way before July riots", |
| 167 | + "topics": [ |
| 168 | + "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla", |
| 169 | + "2021 unrest", |
| 170 | + "courts", |
| 171 | + "Dali Mpofu", |
| 172 | + "Jacob Zuma" |
| 173 | + ] |
88 | 174 | } |
89 | 175 | } |
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