Jacob Zuma to testify in defence of his daughter in unrest trial

uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) leader Jacob Zuma will testify in defence of his daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla.

The MKP member of Parliament is currently on trial in the Durban High Court for her incitement of violence case related to a deadly July 2021 civil unrest, which left more than 300 dead and paralysed the country's economy.

She was arrested and charged in January, and on Monday, she began her trial, which will run for two weeks. 

Zuma-Sambudla faces three counts of incitement to commit terrorism and two counts of incitement to commit public violence.

The State alleges that her social media posts during that period encouraged violent acts that led to the destruction of property, disruption of essential services, and widespread economic losses.

On Tuesday, her attorney, Advocate Dali Mpofu, told the court that he intended to call Zuma as his first witness.

He stated that Zuma will dispute the testimonies of the State witnesses and argued that his arrest was politically motivated.

Mpofu was cross-examining the second State witness, Sara-Jane Trent, on Tuesday.

“My Lord, I will call President Zuma as my witness. He would dispute the testimonies that have been presented and prove that this case and his arrest were politically motivated,” said Mpofu

Zuma, together with other senior party members, has been attending the trial since Monday. However, on Tuesday, they were joined by Ngizwe Mchunu, a former Ukhozi FM radio personality.

Witness Trent, the former employee of forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, had earlier testified that she laid charges against Zuma-Sambudla as she feared that what had been taking place in KwaZulu-Natal would spread to Johannesburg, where she lived.

During her testimony, she had alleged that the accused, by posting videos of burning trucks and people blocking the roads, coupled with messages such as #freeJacob Zuma, incited public violence. 

“My Lord, under these images, the accused wrote encouraging messages for people to continue what was happening. If this is not incitement of violence, I do not know what it is,” said Trent.

The prosecution team, led by Advocate Yuri Gangai, also showed the court video clips of social media posts allegedly by Zuma-Sambudla, with one on July 9, 2021, saying "Shut down KZN, Shut down roads, factories, shops and government #freeJacobZuma".

During the cross-examination, Mpofu appeared to be tearing Trent’s testimony apart.

He first asked the witness whether she was aware that O’Sullivan was President Cyril Ramaphosa’s friend, to which Trent said she was aware that they knew each other.

However, she said she was unsure whether they were friends or not.

Mpofu then asked her whether she would be surprised if people said that, because of her association with O’Sullivan, who is a friend of Ramaphosa, her laying of charges against the accused was driven by political motives.

The witness replied that she would not be surprised.

Mpofu further questioned her on the relevance of linking the accused with the Gupta family in her case against her.

In her affidavit, the witness had said the accused was a beneficiary of the Gupta family and she was a director of one of the family’s companies.

Mpofu challenged this and told her it was not true. The witness did not dispute it.

He then questioned her on the video of warriors chanting a war cry, moving towards the Spar grocery store during the unrest, and asked her to prove violence in the clip, as she suggested in her affidavit.

The witness had testified that the warriors stormed the shop; however, under cross-examination, she appeared to contradict her earlier testimony and conceded that the people went past the shop without storming in.

The defence will continue with cross-examination on Wednesday. 

willem.phungula@inl.co.za