‘I don’t play when I panelbeat’
“If I had laid a hand on him I would have ‘panelbeated’ him. It would have been worse than what you saw. I don’t play when I lay hands.”
These were the words of EFF leader Julius Malema outside the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, where he and EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi appeared yesterday on charges of common assault.
The two are accused of assaulting a police officer at the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela last year, and have been charged with common assault.
But despite the EFF pair’s denials, a video of the incident spread on social media yesterday, clearly showing them engaging in some kind of physical attack on the officer.
The video does not show instances before the scuffle, but it does seem the Special Task Force officer was getting Malema out of the way as one of the funeral cars approached the gate.
Malema does not take kindly to the officer’s behaviour, so he pushes him out of his way as Ndlozi joins in. Police officers try to intervene and separate the three, as Ndlozi and Malema appear to be shouting at those who are trying to calm the situation down.
It had previously been reported that the incident was caught on CCTV, and the officer subsequently opened a case against the two.
Magistrate Liesl Davis postponed the case to March 10 next year, to allow the accused and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) time to hold consultations and make representations and disclosures before the trial starts.
Addressing the media outside the courtroom, Malema said the case was a waste of the court’s time. “That’s why the magistrate ruled against the media’s application [to film the proceedings] because it is a useless case. I don’t know what you are all doing here,” Malema said.
He said lobby group AfriForum pushed to get the matter to court, applying apartheid tactics against him and Ndlozi.
“We are happy to be dragged to court by the Boers. That’s what makes us happy because it means there is something right we are doing. They are not after [President Cyril] Ramaphosa, [UDM leader] Bantu Holomisa and [Cope leader Mosiuoa] ‘Terror’ Lekota. They are after the EFF, which means that the EFF is up to something.
“If you are stopped from burying your mother, how will you react? A white man says to you, you can’t bury your mother at Winnie Mandela’s funeral. It can’t happen. The NPA just decided to go the way they went because they are succumbing to the Boers’ agenda, driven by AfriForum.
“We are here because we had a scuffle with a white man. If it was black man they could have said the two of you go for mediation and find each other.
“But, you don’t touch a white person as a black person,” Malema said.
AfriForum CEO, Kallie Kriel, said everyone was equal before the law and they would not allow anyone, including Malema, to assault a police officer.
“Malema is lying about his involvement of the [alleged] VBS looting, he is lying about involvement in On Point [Engineering alleged] corruption. So we are not surprised that he is denying this,” said Kriel.
NPA Gauteng spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said they followed due process before taking it to court. – News24 Wire