Mdumiseni Khetha Zuma has been sentenced to 12 years direct imprisonment for his involvement on inciting looting and public violence which led to the demolition of Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg,KwaZulu-Natal.
His sentencing was handed down on today(29 November 2023) by the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court.
Natasha Ramkisson-Kara,National Prosecuting Authority Spokesperson in KZN said:"Today,the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court sentenced Mdumiseni Khetha Zuma(36) to an effective 12 years imprisonment following his conviction on contravening Sections 17 and 18 of the Riotous Assemblies Act,where he incited people to gather and commit public violence.
This was done by making an inciteful video,pertaining to the Brookside Mall,and distributing it on the WhatsApp platform."
Zuma's video is one of those which left negative impact to the economy of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng whereby throngs of people looted and burnt malls,warehouses and trucks which were delivering goods on July 2021 Unrest.
Ramkisson-Kara said the charges relate to the incidents of looting and public violence,which occurred in July 2021 in parts of the country,especially KZN.During this time,the Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg was looted and burnt to the ground.
The court took it time to gather and listen carefully all the evidence which has been submitted by witnesses before handing a suitable sentence for someone like Zuma.
"Representing the state,Senior State Advocate Yuri Gangai led the evidence of video footage,audio clips and the testimony of a guard who worked at the mall.Gangai further led the evidence of two experts who translated the audio clips.
In aggravation of sentence,Gangai led the testimony of the manager of the mall,at the time it was burned.The man said that the estimated damage caused by the looting and fire was approximately R500 million.He further stated that the mall serviced five different communities,as well as about 5000 people who collected their SASSA grants there.They have all been adversely affected by the burning down of the mall,"Ramkisson-Kara adds.
Zuma's case is one of those cases that the NPA in KZN has managed to finalised and he was convicted in two accounts.
"Zuma was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for count 1(two years of which are suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of the same offends during the period of suspension).He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment(two years of which are to run concurrently with count 1).This results in the effective sentence of 12 years direct imprisonment.
While the NPA in KZN has finalised several cases in respect of July 2021 unrest,this is the first conviction where an individual has been convicted and subsequently sentenced for inciting the unrest.We hope that this sentence serves as a detterant to others who intend on engaging in similar offences.We commend the working relationship between the DPCI KZN and the Prosecution,"Ramkisson-Kara concludes.