Zuma cries foul over terrorism charges against daughter

Daughter of former President and uMkhonto weSizwe leader Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, will be appearing in the Durban High Court this week for allegations of terrorism. 

Zuma-Sambudla is accused of using social media to encourage violence during the unrest in July, 2021 following her father’s arrest. 

The violent protests began on 9 July 2021 after Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison on 29 June by the Constitutional Court for failing to appear before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

This resulted in the deaths of 337 people, over 3,400 arrests and over 3,000 stores looted. The extent of the damage was worth R50 billion.

The trial will take place from 10 to 21 November. Members of the Umkhonto weSizwe party are expected to appear in court in numbers, after calling the case “unjust” on social media. 

The Jacob Zuma Foundation has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and politically motivated.”

The foundation added that state institutions have been mobilising to destroy Jacob Zuma and those associated with him for the last two decades.

“What we are witnessing is not justice but a systematic campaign of political and familial harassment against the former president, his children, and all who have stood firm in defending his legacy.”

The court has repeatedly failed to secure convictions against the former President on allegations of state capture, as well as against his son, Duduzane Zuma. 

While Zuma has appeared in court several times over corruption-related charges, as well as personal matters, his son went to court on charges of culpable homicide in 2019.

The case related to a car accident, and Duduzane Zuma was acquitted of the charges. 

“Having failed to destroy the father and the son, the state has now turned its energies to the daughter,” the foundation said. 

The foundation added that Zuma-Sambudla’s only crime was to stand by her father during one of his darkest moments. 

It further asserted that her social media posts were reactive commentaries to events already unfolding, and that they did not incite this violence. 

A complex trial

Zuma Sambudla posted several comments on the social media platform X during the July 2021 events. 

She shared a video of a vehicle transporter set alight and shot at Mooi Plaza in KwaZulu-Natal, along with the hashtag #FreeJacobZuma.

She wrote, “Mooi Plaza…we see you!!! Amandla,” and three fist emojis. 

She also shared posters calling for a shutdown of KwaZulu-Natal and used the word “azishe”, meaning let it burn.

The foundation said the words “amandla” and “azishe” are apartheid era slogans “deeply rooted in South Africa’s struggle history.”

“They cannot be perverted into acts of terrorism,” the foundation said. 

“To criminalise such expressions now is to erase the language of resistance itself and to deny the lived heritage of the liberation struggle.”

The foundation asserts that Zuma-Sambudla is not on trial for a crime, but on trial for being her father’s daughter. 

Zuma-Sambudla was first charged in January 2025, four years after the riots. 

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said at the time that the case was complex, as prosecutors had to bring in external experts on social media, because the police didn’t have one.

The NPA added, however, that it would not have taken the case this far if it were not confident in the evidence it has built against the former president’s daughter.