AfriForum welcomes NPA’s prosecution of Malema

AfriForum has welcomed the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) announcement today that they are going to prosecute Julius Malema, Leader of the EFF, for alleged crimes in terms of the Firearms Control Act following continuous pressure by the civil rights organisation.

The NPA’s decision follows after AfriForum announced in July this year that the organisation would bring a mandamus application to compel the NPA to make decisions regarding the prosecution of Malema in this case, as well as two other pending cases against him.

AfriForum submitted charges against Malema at the Lyttleton Police Station in August last year after he fired off various shots using an assault rifle during the EFF’s 5-year festivities in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape.

“It is high time that the NPA prosecutes Malema for his criminal conduct. If AfriForum had not brought the charges against Malema and put pressure on the NPA to prosecute him, he would simply have gotten away with it. Malema is a political figure and his alleged criminal conduct, as well as the fact that he seemingly thus far got away with it, has already led to the firing of shots being imitated countrywide,” says Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety.

“AfriForum would not have insisted that Malema be prosecuted if there were not substantial facts that he had seriously contravened the law. His conduct is the reason that he needs to be prosecuted,” says Marnus Kamfer, AfriForum’s Legal and Risk Manager.

According to Adv. Gerrie Nel, Head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, AfriForum is still awaiting the NPA’s decision on whether they will be prosecuting Malema on the On Point and assault cases. “We will do what it takes to see that prosecution in these cases are done,” says Adv. Nel.