Overview

• The East London Magistrate's Court is scheduled to hand down judgment in the long-running trial of EFF leader Julius Malema and former bodyguard Adriaan Snyman.
• Malema is charged with discharging a firearm in public at the EFF’s 2018 anniversary rally in Mdantsane under the Firearms Control Act.
• Snyman faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and is accused of handing the weapon to Malema before the alleged discharge.
• Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, with Malema testifying that the firearm was a fake without live ammunition and pointing to the crowd’s reaction to support his claim.
• A prior bid to have the case struck for lack of evidence was dismissed, while Malema has publicly described the prosecution as politically motivated and mishandled.