EFF president Julius Malema addresses supporters outside the Randburg Magistrate's Court on 29 September 2022. Picture: Sibongumenzi Sibiya.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said it “has once again defeated the racist AfriForum” after he and party MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi were acquitted of assault charges.
The red berets comments come after leader Julius Malema and Ndlozi were found not guilty by the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
In the judgment, Magistrate Leiland Poonsamy stated that Malema and Ndlozi “successfully raised the defence of justification”.
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Poonsamy, however, rejected the suggestion that the case was politically motivated.
“The court finds that claims of a political agenda cannot be upheld.”
Speaking to EFF supporters outside court, Malema said the party had defeated AfriForum.
“The case is closed. So, once again, we defeated AfriForum, we defeated white supremacy, we defeated racism, because that’s who we are. So comrades, we want to thank the leadership of the EFF for believing in us and for knowing that we are not crazy people who go around beating up people without any justification.”
Malema thanked his legal team who fought the case.
“We want to thank our legal team… there are many battles ahead, we are going to fight many others,” Malema said.
The EFF said it believes that Venter denying Malema and Ndlozi access to the late Madikizela-Mandela’s burial site was based purely on racism and hatred for the party because Venter was a member of AfriForum.
“AfriForum has once again lost to the superior logic of the EFF and its capable legal team.
“The pain has gone straight to the hearts of the hateful white-supremacists of AfriForum, who fundraise using the name of EFF and through swaart-gevaar tactics, simply because the EFF is fighting for the return of the land.”
“It is a judgment that undermines the presumption that to simply touch a white man constitutes a crisis, even when such a white man violates the rights of Africans,” the EFF said.
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