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EFF MP’s Floyd Shivambu, Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
- Top EFF leaders Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi will appear in court in October.
- They allegedly assaulted a police colonel at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral in 2018.
- The decision to prosecute them came after pressure from lobbyist AfriForum.
The Randburg Court of First Instance set the date for the trial of Julius Malema, the leader of the EFF, and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, the former spokesman of the EFF, on Monday on October 13 and 28.
The regional spokesperson for the National Tax Authority (NPA), Phindi Mjonondwane, said that the state and the defense agreed on the date of the trial and that the matter was postponed in the absence of the accused.
The couple allegedly assaulted a police colonel in April 2018 during the funeral of fighting icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
The incident was caught by CCTV and the officer subsequently opened a case against the two.
The NPA decided to prosecute them after sustained pressure from lobby group AfriForum, which announced in July last year that it would approach the court with a request for a mandamus that would force it to make a decision regarding the prosecution of Malema and Ndlozi.
READ | Floyd Shivambu’s assault case postponed again
In September last year, the NPA contacted the lobby that would prosecute them.
According to a statement from AfriForum, both Malema and Ndlozi would also have to appear in court on September 14 for a judicial inquiry into whether the arrest warrants against them should be suspended because they did not attend previous court proceedings.
This was due to Covid-19 regulations. The prosecutor also indicated that the original charge sheet could not be found at this stage, which meant that the arrest warrant could not be executed on Monday.
AfriForum welcomes the setting of a court date, because we believed from the outset that there is a prima facie case against Malema and Ndlozi.
The NPA reconsidered [its] initial refusal to prosecute after continued pressure from AfriForum and has since started prosecution. Now the legal process must run its course; however, we will continue to support the SAPS colonel, “said Phyllis Vorster, prosecutor in AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, on Monday.
