Social media law expert says Zuma-Sambudla's tweets were shared by instigators of 2021 unrest

Social media law expert Emma Sadleir on Tuesday said her analysis of the tweets by Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla found “encouragement, jubilation and celebration of the (2021) unrest that had South Africa on its knees over that period”.

Zuma-Sambudla is on trial in Durban High Court for allegedly instigating public violence to demand the release of her father, former president Jacob Zuma who  had handed himself over to the Estcourt Correctional Centre in the north-west of KwaZulu-Natal on the night of 7 July 2021.

Sadleir told the court that immediately after Zuma-Sambudla posted videos or messages, the same messages appeared on three WhatsApp chat groups managed by instigators of the unrest. The groups were 'Free Jacob Zuma', 'INK' (which stand for Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu) and 'eThekwini'.

Sadleir said in one instance, Zuma-Sambudla on 9 July 2021 posted about violence that was taking place on the N2 near Empangeni in the north of province and a minute later this post appeared in the WhatsApp groups.

The State prosecution team led by Advocate Yuri Gangai said that this meant that Zuma-Sambudla's posts were used in perpetuating the violence that was taking place at that time

“Her tweets were shared by the instigators of the Free Zuma campaign groups. There was a time where a minute after posting her video it was immediately shared in the three WhatsApp groups. There were a number of arrests from those groups. This shows an interplay between her and the groups, however the accused had no control over who was sharing her post,” said Sadleir.

The digital law expert, who described herself as the go to person when things go wrong, told the court she had appeared many times in various courts where her expertise on social media cases was needed. She was approached by the Hawks to prepare a memorandum on the social media liability and whether Zuma-Sambudla’s tweets constituted a criminal offence.

"If I am asked whether the accused was an instigator, I  would say yes,” Sadleir told the court.

She is expected to be cross-examined by the Zuma-Sambudla lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu on Wednesday.

Under cross-examination last week, the State first witness Major-General Gopal Govender conceded that there was no direct link between 164 WhatsApp groups and Zuma-Sambudla. However, he stated that some of the people in these groups were Zuma-Sambudla’s followers on her X account.

Earlier, during cross-examination of investigating officer Brigadier Jenine Steynberg by Mpofu, she admitted that Zuma-Sambudla’s tweets may have been generated by AI (Artificial Intelligence). 

Mpofu had asked whether there was possibility that some of the messages attributed to his client's X account could have been generated by a 'bot' (a software application that runs automated, repetitive tasks on the internet, often mimicking human activity but operating much faster) and Steynberg replied yes.

She, however, said this could be the case with five messages, not all of them.

“It is possible that some of the accused’s tweets could have been generated by a BOT, however it could be less than five as a bot could not have generated more messages,” said Steynberg.

She said that a bot could not use most of the language that was used in the tweets.

The trial continues

willem.phungula@inl.co.za