Overview
- Social media law expert Emma Sadleir testified that Zuma-Sambudla’s posts were copied within minutes into WhatsApp groups such as Free Jacob Zuma, INK and eThekwini that investigators linked to alleged instigators.
- Police digital-forensics brigadier Janine Kollette Steynberg said the account shifted from personal to political messaging in early 2021 and included rallying language like “Amandla” and a call to stop “fighting” on phones.
- Steynberg told the court several posts were deleted after investigators began probing the account, and that the State preserved the material through screenshots.
- Prosecutors want follower comments and shared videos under the posts admitted to show public reaction, while the defence calls them hearsay; the judge deferred a ruling on admissibility.
- The defence disputes causation and provenance and raised bot activity, with Steynberg conceding a few posts could be bot-generated; Zuma-Sambudla has pleaded not guilty to incitement to commit terrorism and public violence tied to the July 2021 unrest.