MK Party member of parliament Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is scheduled to appear in court this week on her alleged role in the deadly 2021 riots. She is set to face charges of incitement of violence and treason.
āDuduzile Zuma-Sambudla will be appearing at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on charges of July 2021 uprising. Let us mobilise all ground forces in numbers,ā the party said in a social media message on Tuesday.
The daughter of the former head of state and leader of the MK Party, Jacob Zuma, will appear at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The unrest claimed over 300 lives nationwide.
KZN was hardest hit
KwaZulu-Natal carried the highest number of casualties, with the most deaths recorded in eThekwini metro.
Sambudla-Zuma is believed to have been one of the so-called instigators who were beating the war drums during the widespread looting and burning of property and shops.
The violence turned deadly when rogue elements and security companies mobilised themselves under the pretext that they were defending their properties.
In Phoenix, one of Durbanās oldest Indian townships, the unrest degenerated into a full-scale racial war between people of Indian descent and black Africans. Scores of innocent people were shot dead and some hacked to death for apparently passing through the township. More than 30 black Africans perished.Ā
Zuma-Sambudla had been an active participant in the social media, posting pictures of mayhem and misery.
She is believed to have instigated the riots and celebrated the pandemonium that took place.
Calls to have Duduzile prosecuted
There had been widespread public calls, especially from opposition parties, for Zuma-Sambudla to be hauled before court for her alleged inflammatory messages.
Her comments, such as “KZN, we see you,” are said to be among her posts, which will be scrutinised by the court.
Although there were several people who were arrested and charged for being key movers in the violence, no political figure has been prosecuted for the unrest.
The protest was believed to have been triggered by the arrest of Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his failure to give evidence at the state capture commission.
Shortly after his arrest, anger, violence and looting broke out in various provinces, especially Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, causing untold human suffering and economic destruction.Ā
Riot caused racialised violence
The findings of the national investigative hearing report into the catastrophic July riots by the Human Rights Commission concluded that whereas the unrest was initially and mainly branded and characterised by the protests supporting former President Jacob Zuma, a tone of racialised violence began to emerge.
The commission also noted that the riots created a climate of fear and tension, prompting many people of all races to take to the streets in an effort to protect their homes and neighbourhoods, particularly in the absence of visible policing.
āAmid this climate, the generalising notion of āswart gevaarā (the perceived threat of black individuals) began to emerge, or to re-emerge from its dormant places.
“Submissions received by the hearing panel suggest that the incidences that occurred in Phoenix and surrounding areas were viewed by some in the Indian community as necessitated by a legitimate concern that African people would, once they had looted all the shops of their goods, descend upon Indian neighbourhoods and homes to rob and steal,ā note the commission in the findings.
The commission explained that propaganda was spread through social media channels and communities. Some people working with security companies formed street committees to regulate movement and to protect their community.
