Johnathan Paoli
An East London Magistrate dismissed on Thursday morning, EFF leader Julius Malema and his bodyguard, Adriaan Snyman’s bid to have the case thrown out of court due to insufficient evidence.
The case dates back to the party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in July 2018, during which Malema was allegedly handed a semi-automatic firearm by Snyman and fired several shots at Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium in East London.
The Magistrate, Twanet Olivier said Malema’s argument about the fictitious nature of the weapon did not hold any weight in the proceeding so far.
“The mere sayso that it was a movie gun does not make it so… it’s not evidence, the mere sayso. In the light of the evidence that’s been presented so far, the application of discharge in terms of Section 174 of Act 51 of 1977 is not granted,” Olivier said.
Speaking outside the courthouse to a crowd of supporters, the EFF’s CIC affirmed the party’s drive for next year’s elections and said that the current legal proceedings were merely a small obstacle in the path forward.
Malema said the state has pursued this case for the past five years due to their inability to defeat the EFF’s radical politics and that it was the state’s intention to use and abuse the courts and state power to silence his voice.
“I am not scared of a Magistrate, I am not scared of a Prosecutor, I am not scared of a Judge, I am not scared of a President, I am not scared of Capitalism, I am not scared of White Monopoly Capital, I am not scared of anyone. I want all of them combined,” Malema said.
The trial is expected to resume in July next year.
INSIDE POLITICS
