By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) arrested 20 suspects in an ongoing investigation into deadly riots and looting that occurred in July 2021.
Hawks said it has made significant inroads in probing alleged instigators in the incitement of public violence that took place in July last year.
The multidisciplinary team included the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation (SOCI), Serious Corruption Investigation (SCI), Serious Commercial Crime Investigation (SCCI), Digital Forensic Investigation (DFI), Priority Crime Management Centre (PCMC) of the Hawks, Crime Intelligence (CI), National Intervention Unit (NIU), Public Order Policing (POP), Tactical Response Team (TRT) as well as Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) members.
The head of Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, Major General Lesetja Senona, would not comment on any of the accused ahead of their Durban Magistrate’s Court appearance, only saying that things were “unfolding”.
Asked about Zuma’s daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, Senona was also guarded: “You shall remember that a person has deposed an affidavit against the daughter of the former head of state. That investigation is continuing.
“At this stage, we don’t want to divulge the status of the investigation. But once we have finalised the investigation, we will present our case to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to make a prosecutorial decision.”
Zuma-Sambudla was vocal on Twitter during the 2021 unrest, often posting pictures of the destruction and carnage with the caption: “KZN we see you.”
She also uploaded a now removed video of gunfire directed at a poster of President Cyril Ramaphosa during the height of the unrest.
During testimony at the SA Human Rights Commission’s investigation into the unrest, Jean le Roux of the Digital Forensic Research Lab, said Zuma’s daughter had engaged in the most celebratory posts during the July unrest.
Le Roux testified: She was one of the accounts that was most engaging in the celebratory parts of unrest. She would take posts of buildings burning and have a tweet below it saying: ‘Amandla, we see you’.
“She did this quite prolifically throughout the period of the unrest. In some cases, she was also the one that took truck protests from the year before and attached that same statement to those tweets, giving the impression that these are protests happening in support of her father and his incarceration,” Le Roux said.