VIDEOS shared by an account under the name of incitement accused Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla on X were once again under scrutiny at the Durban High Court where investigating officer Brigadier Janine Kollette Steynberg gave evidence today.

Steynberg said the account created in June 2019 became a real issue of concern following the conviction of former president Jacob Zuma, the accused’s father, by the Constitutional Court in June 2021. “Prior to that there were no political statements,” said Steynberg.

“The tweets became more urgent after the former president was found in contempt of court. On June 30, she published a protest video and later used the caption ‘amandla’ for the first time with an unrelated video of soldiers. It’s a popular rallying cry meaning ‘power’ that was used during the liberation struggle.”

Steynberg said from then on Zuma-Sambudla would make political commentary on the legal battles of her father and comment on how unfair the situation was. One of the tweets and video in question was that of masked men in a vehicle driving in an unidentified location.

Also Read: Complainant was alarmed by ‘violent’ Zuma-Sambudla tweets

The men in the video are carrying what looks to be machine guns. Caption and comments such as “Akunyiwe once, kuphele” and “Cormrades, the time to fight with your mobile phones in this arena has ended” were allegedly inciteful.

Zuma-Sambudla, 43, stands accused of inciting terrorism and public violence on social media with her tweets on X in relation to the July 2021 civil unrest that lasted for seven days in KZN and Gauteng, claiming the lives of over 400 people.  She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Steynberg said when the investigation began, the accused had over 123 000 followers on X. Retweets of the videos and views gave an indication of how many people they reached on social media. State prosecutor Yuri Gangai is arguing in court that Zuma-Sambudla’s tweet fuelled the violence, looting and burning that brought the nation to a standstill in July 2021.

“The videos were viewed and retweeted several times. Meaning that they could have reached over 100 000 of the accused’s followers,” said Gangai.

This was confirmed by Steynberg who confirmed that the military video and caption were retweeted 470 times with 1500 likes. The proceedings were set to continue at 14:00 with Advocate Dali Mpofu set to cross examine Steynberg before the next witness testifies.

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