The incitement trial of MK Party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is set to enter a critical technical phase, with the state preparing to call a cellphone data expert to the stand. The expert’s testimony will aim to trace the digital footprint of the violent images she posted online during the deadly July 2021 civil unrest.
This evidence is expected to address a central question in the case: were the incendiary videos and pictures she shared supplied to her by a coordinated network, or were they simply reposts of already-trending content, as her defense claims?
The Core of the State’s Argument
The state alleges that Zuma-Sambudla’s social media activity during that volatile period amounted to incitement to commit public violence and terrorism, encouraging the acts of arson and looting that brought KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng to a standstill.
While previous state witnesses conceded that she was not a member of any of the 164 WhatsApp groups identified as coordinating the unrest, a key ambiguity remains: the original source of the content she disseminated. The cellphone expert is being called to clarify this by testifying on the specific phone numbers from which she downloaded the video clips.
The Defense’s Counter-Argument
On Wednesday, Zuma-Sambudla’s lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, sought to dismantle the state’s existing evidence. During his cross-examination of the second state witness, Sara-Jane Trent, he argued that her testimony was “fabricated and politically motivated.”
Mpofu challenged the notion that sharing images of burning trucks equated to encouraging further violence. He also contended that her posts using the hashtag ‘#freeJacobZuma’ were a natural expression of a daughter’s desire to see her father released from prisona point with which the witness agreed.
The upcoming technical evidence from the cellphone expert represents the state’s next move to build a concrete chain of evidence, moving beyond the content of the posts themselves to the mechanics of how they were sourced and shared. The trial has been adjourned until Monday, when this pivotal testimony is expected to begin.
