Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla trial: Dali Mpofu asks why State called retired SAPS translator to testify in July unrest case

Ask AI 2minDuduzile Zuma-Sambudla in the dock at the Durban High Court on Monday, as her July 2021 unrest trial resumed. She faces charges of incitement to commit terrorism and public violence related to social media posts following her father Jacob Zuma's arrest.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu SC, says he does not know why the State called a witness from her retirement pension fund to testify in court when her trial over the July 2021 unrest resumed in the Durban High Court on Monday.

The first witness to take the stand on Monday morning was Doctor Elli Khumalo-Simelane, who asked not to be shown on any photos, videos or media livestream footage.

Mpofu asked why she had been called to testify in court when she was a translator and could not say what Zuma-Sambudla was intending to say with a tweet the State had charged her over.

He said Khumalo-Simelane’s statement alone should have been sufficient.

Khumalo-Simelane was previously employed as an IsiZulu language practitioner at the police national head office in Pretoria before her retirement. Her duties included translating, interpreting and listening to video clips or recordings to transcribe them from IsiZulu to English.

She was tasked with translating a social media post from Zuma-Sambudla in April 2022, which allegedly encouraged unrest and lootings in Durban and Johannesburg in which more than 300 people were killed.

“It is not our job to work out what the other person might have intended to to say; our job is to interpret the language,” Khumalo said. 

The State argues that Zuma-Sambudla’s online posts contributed to a wave of looting, arson and widespread destruction, which saw shopping centres ransacked, infrastructure damaged, and communities left in fear. 

The protests followed the arrest of her father, former president Jacob Zuma. 

The post on X, then known as Twitter, read “Mooiplaza, we see you..Amandla!! #Free Jacob Zuma”.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla talks to her lawyer, Dali Mpofu SC, in the dock at the Durban High Court. She is on trial for incitement to commit terrorism and public violence related to social media posts following her father Jacob Zuma's arrest.

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

The State alleges that her social media posts incited violence following her father’s imprisonment. She has denied the allegations.

On the first count, the State alleges that Zuma-Sambudla unlawfully and intentionally incited other people to commit acts of terrorism by encouraging them to engage in terrorist activities.

The second charge relates to incitement to commit violence. The State alleges that she incited, instigated, commanded or procured other people to unlawfully assemble with the common intention of forcibly disturbing the public peace or tranquility, or invading the rights of other people.

The third charge relates to Section 17 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, which deals with the unlawful assembly of people with the intention of causing a riot.

The trial began in November 2025 and is now back in court, scheduled to continue until November 6.

The former Umkhonto we Sizwe Party member was arrested and charged in January 2025.

In July 2021, Zuma handed himself in to police to serve a 15-month sentence for contempt of court over his refusal to appear before a commission investigating widespread corruption – often referred to as “state capture”. 

He served only two months of an 18-month prison term, mostly in the prison’s hospital wing, before being released as part of a decision affecting certain non-violent offenders approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

His jailing sparked riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which was characterised by widespread looting which led to losses of billions of rand.