Court told social media posts inciting violence were deleted

The Durban High Court has heard that some social media posts which incited violence during the July 2021 civil unrest were deleted after they were posted, including those posted by Duduzile-Zuma Sambudla.

This is part of the evidence by the State’s third witness, digital forensic expert, Brigadier Janine Steynberg.

In her testimony, Steynberg clarified the origin of videos and images posted by Zuma-Sambudla on social media.

The UmkhontoWesizwe Party Member of Parliament has pleaded not guilty to charges of inciting terrorism and violence in the July 2021 unrest.

The state alleges that her social media posts intentionally and unlawfully encouraged the public to engage in violence. Steynberg gives her testimony.

“So, at the time I conducted these investigations, they were there was a real threat of the data going missing or the tweets being deleted, and many of them on many of these accounts indeed were deleted. This was after my first inspection, so over many of the accounts that I investigated, including this one, some of the tweets were indeed deleted after my initial inspection, my lord.”

 Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s trial I 17 November 2025