Duduzile Zuma-Spithla, a politician and daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, pleaded not to be in vain for terrorism and public violence in the deadly 2021 riots.
The trial, which began on Monday in the City of Durban, is the first prosecution in South Africa where charges related to Social Media have been brought.
In July 2021, Zuma surrendered himself to the police to serve a 15-month sentence for contempt of court before refusing to investigate before a refusal to investigate the first refusal – often called “State Capt”. His jailing sparked riots in Gauteng, home to the economic capital of Johannesburg and KwaZulu Natal, whose capital is Durban.
More than 350 people have been killed and the economy devastated in what is considered the worst episode of domestic unrest since the end of apartheid.
Prosecutors accused Zuma-Samothla, 43, of playing a key role in inciting violence through social media activity.
He denied the allegations and in a preliminary hearing wore clothes bearing the words “Modern Day Terrorist” – a satirical retort to the charges.
Zuma-Samotlan followed his father in leaving the ruling African National Congress in 2023 to found Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK), the Nationalist Party named after the ANC’s National Militant Wing. He became one of his most trusted allies and was elected to the National Assembly in last year’s election on the MK platform.
In court on Monday, Zuma-Samotud smiled and seemed under no pressure. Her father, who has been in power for nine years, was in court to support his daughter, who was born in Mozambique while he was in exile.
The prosecutors said 164 WhatsApp Social Media Chat Groups were created by the riots of 2021 and that it is not against the law to act in acts of violence under the release of Jacob Zuma from destruction “.
A representative of the Jacob Zuma Foundation claimed that the case was the latest example of the state’s targeted prosecution of the family.
“For more than two decades, state institutions have been selectively mobilized to destroy President Zuma and those associated with him,” said Mzwanele ISI. “The case of the state rests on a main part of Social Media in July 2021 in which millions of sympathizers and frustrations of the events of the events of the events of the events of the events are imprisoned in the events.”
Most of the alleged corruption investigated by the Commission involved the Guptas, three brothers from a wealthy Indian family who had won cabinet ministers.