Zuma’s daughter linked to Russia-backed Twitter campaign
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has been placed at the centre of a Russia-backed Twitter campaign to bolster support for the attack on Ukraine.
That's according to social media research commissioned and funded by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR).
BusinessLIVE reports that a study backed by the London-based nonprofit, alleges that the daughter of former President Jacob Zuma was at the forefront of Russia’s drive to sway public opinion to its side in SA and beyond.
Posts bearing her name were reused in other regions in the #IStandWithRussia and #IStandWithPutin Twitter campaigns, according to the CIR.
‘The evidence is compelling,’ said Nina Jankowicz, vice-president at the CIR.
‘She was a clear driver of the campaign and the origin point for many of the tweets that were replicated around the SA information environment, and eventually even further afield,’ said Jankowicz.
Zuma-Sambudla didn’t answer repeated calls to her cellphone and didn’t respond to a text message.
The researchers relied on the personal nature of what has been posted on the account, including photographs, and the discussion in SA media of the tweets as evidence that she owns it.
SA has been criticised by the US and European nations for refusing to condemn Russia’s war with Ukraine .
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