Daughter of ex-South Africa President Zuma faces trial over deadly riots. Here’s what to know

JOHANNESBURG — The daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, appeared in court on Monday for her trial on charges of incitement to cause terrorism related to riots that left over 350 people dead in July 2021.

The riots were the deadliest since the end of South Africa’s racist system of apartheid, or white-minority rule, in 1994.

The rioting began after Jacob Zuma was sent to prison for defying a court order to testify at an inquiry investigating widespread government corruption during his time as president from 2009 to 2018.

Zuma-Sambudla is the highest-profile of over 60 people to be charged over the riots. She is accused of inciting public violence via social media posts she made before and during the riots. She pleaded not guilty at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in the eastern city of Durban.

She is now a member of parliament for the MK Party, which was started by her father in 2023 and won 15% of the national vote during last year’s general elections. That weakened the power of the African National Congress, which had ruled alone since the end of apartheid before losing its majority in the 2024 election.

Here’s what to know:

Defiance, then riots

The July 2021 riots broke out in KwaZulu-Natal province, Jacob Zuma’s stronghold, and quickly spread to Gauteng, the province that includes South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg.

Mobs looted shops and businesses, destroyed property and caused up to $2 billion in damage, according to authorities. More than 5,000 people were arrested.

Authorities at the time said the violence was an attempted insurrection by Zuma’s supporters as police struggled to control the angry crowds.

The riots led to criticism of South Africa’s law enforcement agencies as they were accused of being caught unprepared and struggled for days to contain the looting.

Allegations she incited violence on Twitter

Zuma-Sambudla posted on social media platform Twitter, now known as X, the phrase “We see you” multiple times alongside videos of unrest or the name of a town or an area where there was rioting. Prosecutors allege that the phrase and other posts were acknowledging, encouraging and approving of the rioters’ actions.

As her trial began on Monday, investigators told the court that she used her social media profile with over 125,000 followers to incite the rioters.

A government-backed probe earlier found that Zuma’s arrest was the catalyst for the riots, but that frustrations over poverty during COVID-19 lockdowns were partly to blame for the looting and destruction of property.

Jacob Zuma served only two months of an 18-month prison term, mostly in the prison’s hospital wing, before he was released as part of a decision affecting certain nonviolent offenders approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa.