'Tell Mbakz I just landed': Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla shares pictures of herself in Russia

Former president Jacob Zuma's daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, has shared pictures of herself in Russia, urging her social media followers to tell transport minister Fikile Mbalula that she had “just landed” in that country.

Zuma-Sambudla made it clear that she is standing with President Vladimir Putin in his country's conflict with Ukraine, and shared pictures of herself in front of the Peterhof Palace in St Petersburg on Wednesday. 

“Someone please tell my good friend Mbakz that I have just landed in Russia. He has still blocked me,” she wrote. 

Mbalula came under fire this week over his cryptic tweet stating he had “just landed in Ukraine”.

However, he refused to respond to questions about his “trip” to the country.

“I am not going to comment on that,” he told a reporter during a visit to driving licence testing centres in Gauteng on Monday.

When it was suggested to him that his social media utterances may have been interpreted as trivialising the conflict, Mbalula denied this.

“I did not trivialise anything and I won’t comment on that,” he repeated.

Jacob Zuma released a statement siding with Russia on the conflict. 

He said he fully supported Putin, claiming he had, for years, been consistent in his stance against the eastern expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) into Ukraine. 

Zuma said Putin was provoked by reported attempts to include Ukraine in the alliance.

“Ukraine and Russia are separated only by a line on the map and not by the Baltic Sea — why is this complicated to understand? If forces, globally known to be hostile to the US, were known to be establishing the presence of any sort in any of the adjacent territories, the US would certainly act in a manner that it believes would neutralise such a perceived threat,” he said.

Zuma claimed Russia and Ukraine could have solved their issues amicably had it not been for the intervention of “western powers”.

“I am certain that his excellency Vladimir Putin will reciprocate and will bring in all his power to make peace a reality, as I know him to be a man of peace who has worked hard to ensure peace and stability across the globe,” he said.