LISTEN | 'A waste of time': Malema, Ndlozi in court over alleged assault of cop

EFF leader Julius Malema said on Wednesday that a common assault case against him and party spokesperson Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was “useless” and a waste of time.

Malema and Ndlozi are accused of assaulting a police officer at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's funeral in April 2018.

They appeared in the Randburg magistrate's court on Wednesday, flanked by party leaders including Dali Mpofu, Godrich Gardee and Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi.

The matter was postponed to March 10 2020 for trial.

Magistrate Liesl Davis said representations and the disclosure of the docket would be made before the trial date.

“It's a waste of time ... It's a useless case. It's a common assault case. It's a waste of the court's time,” Malema told journalists after his appearance.

LISTEN TO WHAT HE HAD TO SAY: 

“That is what white people do when they disagree with you. They take you to court,” he said, referring to the case.

“We are happy to be dragged by the Boers to court. We don't even feel bad. The only regret we have is we didn't take decisive action at that time. We should have decisively dealt with the man.”

Asked if the police officer had provoked them deliberately, Malema said: “If you are stopped from burying your mother, how would you react.

“The NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] just decides to go the way they went because they are succumbing to the Boers' agenda, which is driven by AfriForum.”

He said the NPA should have taken note of the occasion and applied the principles of ubuntu, instead of instituting charges against them.

“We are here because we had a scuffle with a white man. If it was a black man, they would have said 'the two of you go for mediation and find each other'."

Malema denied that he and Ndlozi had assaulted the police officer.

“I've never done that. If I laid a hand on him, I would have panel-beaten him. I don't play when I lay a hand. I didn't do that. Mbuyiseni didn't do that. All we were fighting for was to enter the cemetery and go and bury our mother.

“We had all the right to be there and he was not going to stop us from burying Winnie Mandela.

“If we are going to prison for having fought to bury Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, so be it,” the EFF leader said.