The Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla trial resumes today in the Durban High Court, where the State and defence are expected to continue addressing the implications of a deleted video tweet that has been provisionally accepted as evidence.
The video forms part of a deleted post from Zuma Sambudla’s X account and was located on Monday by social media law expert Emma Sadleir while preparing for her testimony.
The clip, screened in court on Wednesday, shows six shots being fired at an election poster bearing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s image.
Prosecutors say it was posted on the day the July 2021 unrest began.
Sadleir testified that a screenshot of the footage had already formed part of the State’s case, but the recovery of the full video represented new evidence.
Defence advocate Dali Mpofu objected to its late introduction, describing it as an “ambush” and arguing that the accused was entitled to know the full extent of the case against her in advance of the trial.
“These are constitutional issues… The accused is anxious to have this finalised, so it’s not a trivial matter. This whole case could turn on this video, and then it’s just sprung on us,” Mpofu told the court.
Prosecutor advocate Yuri Gangai disputed this, saying the clip was relevant and therefore admissible:
“It’s not a situation where the State sat on it for months.”
Both sides agreed the video should be provisionally entered into the record, with arguments about its final admissibility postponed.
Sadleir was allowed to continue her evidence and explained how she located the clip, saying she used a reverse image search of the screenshot widely circulated during the unrest.
She told the court she found a screen recording of the deleted video posted as a reply to a tweet by Zuma Sambudla earlier this year.
Sadleir also testified that while analysing three WhatsApp groups linked to unrest coordination, she found the video had been shared across two of them.
Her assessment of Zuma-Sambudla’s 28 tweets posted on the day of the unrest formed part of the State’s basis for both the incitement and terrorism charges.
Mpofu is expected to continue cross examining Sadleir today as the court considers the significance of the deleted footage and its circulation across social media and messaging platforms.
The live stream of today’s proceedings appears below.
Readers are advised to refresh this page shortly before the sitting begins to load the stream correctly.
