Cape Town – A ballistics expert has reportedly confirmed that the empty cartridge found at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane after the EFF event in 2018, where Julius Malema was seen firing a rifle in front of a cheering crowd, came from one of the firearms seized from his co-accused bodyguard Adriaan Snyman’s company.
Malema is facing charges of illegal possession of firearms, contravention of the Firearms Control Act, the illegal possession of ammunition, and reckless endangerment to persons or property, according to Times Live.
Snyman, on the other hand, is charged with one count of violating the Firearms Control Act and failing to take reasonable precautions to avoid endangering a person’s property.
The charges stem from a viral video from 2018 in which Malema walked out onto the stage, firing a rifle several times before handing it to Snyman during the EFF’s fifth-anniversary celebration in Mdantasane, Eastern Cape.
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The trial for the pair began over the weekend. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A woman who was allegedly part of a cleaning and maintenance team came forward as a witness, saying that she found an empty cartridge on the stadium grounds after the party’s event when she was cleaning, News24 reported.
However, Malema’s lawyer Laurence Hodes poured water onto the women’s statement, saying that the cartridge may have been placed there long before the EFF’s event.
According to The Citizen, Lieutenant-Colonel Mandisi Mgwadleka, who was tasked with examining the spent cartridge, said on Thursday that he had been able to link the spent cartridge found by the cleaner after the rally to a Norinco rifle seized from Snyman’s company.
“I examined the test cartridge casings against the exhibit [the spent cartridge found at the stadium] and compared the individual and cluster markings transferred by the firearm components during the firing process using a comparison microscope,” the report quoted Mgwadleka as saying.
Malema’s trial was set to continue on Friday.
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Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
