Court dismisses Malema bid to halt firearm trial

Malema is accused of firing a rifle which was handed to him by his co-accused, Adriaan Snyman, during the EFF's birthday celebrations at Mdantsane's Sisa Dukashe Stadium in 2018.

In September, Malema's legal team brought an application to have the charges dismissed due to what they called a lack of substantial evidence.

East London Magistrate Twanet Olivier dismissed the two accused’s application to withdraw all charges against them due to lack of evidence.

Malema and Snyman pleaded not guilty to all six charges levelled against them.

"At this stage of the proceedings, I think the court has placed the evidence so far presented by the state on record,” Olivier said in her ruling.

“I have, in the evidence, clarified the issues he’s raised. I have tried to give reasons for the decision that I am about to pronounce and to add whether it is correct or not in respect to accused number one.

"A mere say-so, that it was a movie gun, does not make it so. It's not evidence, the mere say-so, in the light of the evidence that has been presented so far.

"I am not saying which has been accepted as facts but which is being presented so far. In that light, accused 1 and 2, number one in respect of count one, two, three and five. Accused number two in respect of counts four and six, the application for discharge in terms of Section 174 of Act 51 of 1997 is not granted."

The matter has been postponed to 15 to 17 July 2024, and bail has been extended.

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