Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s Discharge Bid Thrown Out — Durban High Court Rules She Must Answer

On Thursday, Judge Nkosinathi Chilli of Durban’s High Court ended weeks of legal manoeuvring by rejecting Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s discharge request, finding that the prosecution had presented enough evidence to warrant a full defence. Quickly, her legal team moved to shield the former Twitter firebrand—the daughter of ex-president Jacob Zuma—from the cameras gathered outside the entrance as she walked out of the court building in Masonic Grove without speaking to reporters.

More than 300 South Africans lost their lives in the July 2021 riots that rocked KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and Zuma-Sambudla is facing charges related to those events. Durban, Phoenix, and neighbouring townships were paralysed due to the violence that she allegedly incited using her social media platform, which had millions of followers at the time. There was no prima facie basis to compel her response, according to her defence counsel Advocate Mzwandile Sikhakhane, who argued that the State’s case was fatally flawed.

The ruling was confirmed late Thursday afternoon by Phindi Mjonondwane, a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority. After reviewing the evidence, the court found sufficient grounds to allow the accused to present her defence, Mjonondwane informed the assembled journalists outside the building. “We are pleased with the result and will continue to hold everyone responsible for the devastation in July 2021 to account.”

Proceedings at the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court were postponed three times during Zuma-Sambudla’s legal battles, which lasted nearly two years. Like her father’s courtroom strategy during the resumption of his corruption trial at Pietermaritzburg following his famous medical parole saga, her camp has persistently cast every negative development as politically motivated. Criticism of the pattern has been fierce from civil organisations keeping tabs on the case.

A small crowd watched from across the street, and the mood was captured by a woman selling vetkoek from a tram near the court steps. She made the comment while wiping flour off her hands onto a worn apron, “Every time it’s a famous person, the law starts going after them personally.” The consensus among those around her was unanimous.

Before Zuma-Sambudla steps into the witness box, her legal team has hinted that they will exhaust all other options, including an urgent application to a higher court. For families who laid loved ones to rest amidst four days of national anarchy, the question of whether those paths will postpone justice remains unanswered. Will process always triumph over tragedy, or can a court really hand down a verdict that satisfies a hurting nation?

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