Africa-Press – South-Africa. EFF leader Julius Malema and his bodyguard Adriaan Snyman will have to wait until 30 January 2023 for their trial in connection with the 2018 shooting incident at the EFF’s birthday celebrations to resume in the East London Regional Court.
The trial kicked off in March after numerous delays.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali confirmed that the trial had to be postponed on Monday because Malema’s lawyer, advocate Laurence Hodes, had other commitments.
The NPA said the defence and the State could not agree on an earlier court date. The NPA said eight state witnesses had already testified in the trial, which was last heard on 4 March 2022.
‘It was not a real gun’ – Malema’s lawyers attempt to punch holes in State’s case
Malema and his co-accused were not in the East London Regional Court during Monday’s postponement.
Malema faces charges of the unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and three counts of contravening the Firearms Control Act.
His co-accused, Adriaan Snyman – a private security company owner and a member of Malema’s security team – faces one count of contravening the Firearms Control Act.
Both men had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The charges stem from an incident in July 2018 when Malema was captured on camera using what appeared to be an automatic assault rifle during the EFF’s fifth birthday celebrations in Mdantsane, East London.
The State charges that Snyman handed Malema the rifle.
The alleged incident happened at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium.
When the trial kicked off in March, Hodes attempted to punch holes in the State’s case, claiming the rifle which Malema seemingly fired in front of a cheering crowd was not a real gun. He said an empty bullet shell picked up after the event and handed to the police, could have been placed there months before the incident.
Hodes also claimed the gun could be a replica or air pistol firing blanks.
State witness Durban-based national compliance officer at the firearms division Lieutenant Colonel David Johannes Jansen, however, previously told the court there was a distinct difference in sound between an air gun and a real rifle.
The court also heard that the firearm allegedly used by Malema matched the cartridge case picked up by cleaners on the field. They handed it to the police after the event.
This was revealed by Lieutenant Colonel Mandisi Mgwadleka, the chief forensic ballistic analyst at the police’s forensic science laboratory in North End, Gqeberha.
In his testimony in March, Mgwadleka said the semi-automatic rifle was tampered with after it had been fired; before it was handed over to the police by Snyman.
He said the weapon’s breechblock was changed, but he still managed to establish that the rifle had kicked out the bullet shell.
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