Copyright Star Tribune
JOHANNESBURG — The daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, appeared in court on Monday for her trial on charges of incitement to cause terrorism related to riots that left over 350 people dead in July 2021. The rioting began after Jacob Zuma was sent to prison for defying a court order to testify at an inquiry investigating widespread government corruption during his time as president from 2009 to 2018. Zuma-Sambudla is the highest-profile of over 60 people to be charged over the riots. She is accused of inciting public violence via social media posts she made before and during the riots. She pleaded not guilty at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. She is now a member of parliament after the MK Party, which was started by her father in 2023, won 15% of the national vote during last year's general elections that weakened the power of the African National Congress, which had ruled alone since the end of apartheid. Zuma-Sambudla posted on social media platform Twitter, now known as X, acknowledging the rioters. ''We see you," one post said of videos showing the looting and burning of property. A government-backed probe earlier found that Zuma's arrest was the catalyst for the riots, but that frustrations over poverty during COVID-19 lockdowns were partly to blame for the looting and destruction of property. Jacob Zuma served only two months of an 18-month prison term, mostly in the prison's hospital wing, before he was released as part of a decision affecting certain nonviolent offenders approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa. France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy departed a Paris prison Monday after a Paris appeals court granted him release under judicial supervision, less that three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya. Big Tech and other superstars of the U.S. stock market are rallying, as Wall Street recovers a big part its losses from last week. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% early Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 261 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6%. Nvidia helped lead the way. It and other winners in the frenzy around artificial intelligence were at the center of last week's drop. Airlines rose as hopes built that the U.S. government may soon end its longest-ever shutdown. Health insurers fell as uncertainty remains about whether Washington will extend expiring health care tax credits.
