Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla Faces Trial Amidst Political Storm in South Africa

Sun Nov 09 2025 09:12:58 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, is set to go on trial for terrorism-related charges stemming from her social media posts during the 2021 unrest. The case highlights ongoing political tensions and allegations of selective prosecution within the country's legal system.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of ex-president Jacob Zuma, is on trial for inciting violence through social media during the 2021 unrest that led to widespread chaos in South Africa. As she faces terrorism-related charges, the trial is expected to shed light on the intersection of law and politics in a nation still grappling with the legacy of her father’s presidency.

A new chapter in South Africa's long-running Zuma saga is set to begin with the 43-year-old daughter of the former president due to go on trial this week on terrorism-related charges.

In what is believed to be a first for the country, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is being prosecuted over what she wrote on social media four years ago during deadly protests.

Jacob Zuma's nine-year presidency, littered with controversies, came to a halt in 2018 amid extensive graft allegations - all denied.

Then in 2021 he was jailed for failing to show up at a corruption inquiry, triggering protests and the worst scenes of violence since before the start of the democratic era in 1994.

A week of anarchy in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, including looting and arson, left at least 300 people dead and caused an estimated $2.8bn (£2.2bn) damage.

Prosecutors allege Zuma-Sambudla played a central role in stoking this.

This unique trial will be a chance for the state's legal team to prove its mettle in successfully prosecuting cases relating to the 2021 unrest, but the accused sees it as an attempt to settle political scores with her father.

He is now an opposition leader after leaving the African National Congress (ANC) and joining a rival party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).

In recent years, Zuma-Sambudla has emerged as the former president's most stalwart supporter regularly seen by his side. She has also become an MK member of parliament.

In 2021, she was outraged by his incarceration and posted images from the looting. The allegation is that these praised what was happening and incited her legion of social media followers, some 100,000 at the time, to press on with the mayhem.

Zuma-Sambudla is accused of the incitement to commit terrorism under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. She is also accused of the incitement to commit public violence.

She has denied the charges, with her lawyer describing the state's case as weak. She used a procedural hearing ahead of the trial to take shots at the prosecution, wearing a shirt ironically branded with the words Modern Day Terrorist.

Several dozen posts from July 2021 on what was then known as Twitter are at the heart of the state's case against her.

In one tweet, she shared a film of a vehicle transporter ablaze and stacked with cars shot at Mooi Plaza, a tollgate near one of the towns in KwaZulu-Natal hardest hit by the violence. Along with the hashtag #FreeJacobZuma she wrote: Mooi Plaza…We See You!!! Amandla, along with three fist emojis.

In another tweet, she shared a poster calling for the shut down of KwaZulu-Natal including roads, factories, shops [and] government until the former president was released.

The police's elite corruption-busting agency, the Hawks, confirmed her arrest in January this year - nearly four years after the deadly protests.

The MK has slammed the case against Zuma-Sambudla as a social injustice, while spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela dismissed the trumped up charges as a political ploy and persecution.

Regardless of whether the prosecution is successful or not, the party could make hay from the case and present her as a martyr.