A cybercrime expert testified in Durban High Court that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's social media posts rallied support for her father, Jacob Zuma, and contributed to the deadly July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The testimony highlighted how her tweets escalated in urgency around Zuma's imprisonment, inciting potential violence. Zuma-Sambudla faces charges of incitement to terrorism and has pleaded not guilty.
On 17 November 2025, the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court in Durban heard testimony from police cybercrime expert Brigadier Janine Kollette Steynberg during the trial of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, 43, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma.
Steynberg described Zuma-Sambudla as 'masterful' in using Twitter (now X) to build sympathy and loyalty for her father ahead of the July 2021 riots, which killed more than 350 people and caused over R50-billion in economic losses through looting, arson, and road blockages. The state alleges her posts incited these acts under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act.
Before Zuma's imprisonment for contempt of court—where he served two months of a 15-month sentence—Zuma-Sambudla's account featured only personal content. It shifted to political posts after events like Julius Malema's visit to Nkandla for tea, becoming more urgent post-sentencing. A 30 June tweet included a protest video captioned 'amandla,' a liberation struggle rallying cry meaning 'power,' alongside an unrelated soldiers video.
Steynberg noted the tweets reached over 100,000 followers via views and retweets, generating comments like 'Zulus will not let one of their own go to jail' and 'We support him with our lives.' Some posts were deleted, but screenshots captured them. Steynberg maintained the collective narrative warned of violence if Zuma was jailed, contributing to unrest.
During cross-examination by Dali Mpofu SC, an earlier witness found no direct link to looters, but Steynberg insisted the posts, including false videos, coerced actions. She clarified that the evidence was the tweets themselves, not the videos' origins, which she addressed in testimony. The trial continues.