Witness is grilled by Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s lawyer in incitement trial

The second State witness in the incitement trial of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla faced tough questions in the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court in Durban on Tuesday, as defence lawyer Dali Mpofu SC challenged the credibility of her testimony.

Sarah-Jane Trent, a fraud examiner at the organisation Forensics for Justice, opened a criminal case against Zuma-Sambudla at the height of the July 2021 riots, which left more than 350 people dead and caused more than R50-billion in economic losses.

Trent’s statement, which she deposed in her capacity as a concerned citizen, is central to the State’s case.

“I was quite horrified,” she said, referring to Zuma-Sambudla’s social media posts at the time, some of which showed protests, videos of machine guns being fired, burning shops and cars.

“Was this going to come to my doorstep? This needed to stop,” Trent told the court.

Beyond her personal concerns, Trent said she felt compelled to open a case because Zuma-Sambudla was no ordinary individual. The July 2021 unrest was linked to the imprisonment of her father, former president Jacob Zuma. Given that Zuma-Sambudla had more than 100,000 followers on social media, Trent feared her comments could lead to further violence.

“I felt that the accused is a leader, a former president’s daughter, and she has many followers who look up to her for leadership, and it was going to cause a lot of damage, which it did. I am not saying that she was the cause … but it had to stop,” said Trent.

Read more: Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla was on authorities’ radar long before July 2021 riots, court hears

Politically motivated 

During cross-examination, Mpofu questioned Trent’s relationship with the forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, suggesting that her statement had been influenced by him. Trent confirmed they were colleagues and did not deny that O’Sullivan, the founder of Forensics for Justice, had been “in control” of the work they did at the time.

O’Sullivan was an “ally” of President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to Mpofu, who asked if Trent was aware of their relationship.

“I am not aware of that,” she responded, adding she was only aware of them meeting on one occasion.

Read more: Jail ‘captured journalists’ and ‘negligent MPs with leaked intelligence’ – Mkhwanazi

Gupta family links 

Another key aspect of Trent’s statement that the defence challenged was her mention of Sambudla-Zuma’s relationship with the Gupta family and her allegation that Zuma-Sambudla had been a director at one of their companies.

Mpofu’s line of questioning led to Trent admitting that this part of her statement was not relevant to the trial.

Thirty-two videos tweeted by Zuma-Sambudla before and after the July 2021 riots were submitted as evidence in court. These form part of the prosecution’s evidence that seeks to show that Zuma-Sambudla “intentionally and unlawfully” inflamed public unrest.

In one of the videos, a large group of men known as Amabutho (regiments), some of whom carry spears, sing and chant as they pass a supermarket.

Trent said her interpretation of the video was that the men had “stormed” the supermarket and their behaviour was violent and illegal.

Mpofu put it to her that this had not been the case, and that it was not a crime for people to carry traditional weapons.

“I do not know that tradition and I can’t be blamed for not knowing. I see weapons,” she responded.

Another video shown in court was of a Spar truck in flames, to which Zuma-Sambudla tweeted, “we see you”.

Trent admitted that of the 32 videos shown, at least two did not include violence.

The trial continues on Wednesday, 12 November. DM