{Local and international media have been allowed inside the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane where EFF leader Julius Malema is due to appear on Monday, after initially being denied access. } <\/p>\n
Earlier, Limpopo police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ronel Otto told reporters she had a message from the judge’s office that media would not be allowed into the courtroom. <\/p>\n
Eyewitness News later tweeted that the media had been given permission to cover the trial, but not take any pictures when proceedings start. <\/p>\n
Malema is to appearing on charges of fraud, corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering, after allegedly making nearly R4m from corrupt activities. He is out on bail of R10 000. <\/p>\n
Supporters gathering outside<\/p>\n
Supporters and members of the Economic Freedom Fighters gathered outside the court ahead of the trial. Clad in red, members of the party chanted anti-government slogans and moved from one street corner to another.<\/p>\n
Minibus taxis were continually dropping off more supporters.<\/p>\n
Malema’s co-accused are his business associates Kagisho Dichabe, Lesiba Gwangwa, Helen Moreroa, and Makgetsi Manthata. They are out on bail of R40 000 each.<\/p>\n
The State alleges Malema and the others misrepresented themselves to the Limpopo roads and transport department, leading to a R52m contract being awarded to On-Point Engineering.<\/p>\n
According to court papers, Malema had business ties with Gwangwa, a director of On-Point Engineering. Malema’s Ratanang Family Trust was an indirect shareholder in On-Point.<\/p>\n
The department paid the company R43m. According to the charge sheet, Malema substantially benefited from this payment, using it to buy a farm and a Mercedes-Benz.<\/p>\n
Tight security <\/p>\n
Pedestrians with access cards who worked nearby were the only people allowed to walk near the court on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
EFF supporters were seen lining up for red party berets and T-shirts.<\/p>\n
Police were monitoring and barring people from passing through.<\/p>\n
A Nyala and water cannon were also deployed to the area.<\/p>\n
Police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi warned that security would be tight at the court. Police would also keep an eye on the city centre and Seshego, Malema\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n
“The aim is to ensure peace and stability. No lawlessness will be tolerated and those who break the law will be arrested immediately,” said Mulaudzi.<\/p>\n
Malema would reportedly sit for a University of SA exam on Monday morning before his court appearance.<\/p>\n
news24.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{Local and international media have been allowed inside the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane where EFF leader Julius Malema is due to appear on Monday, after initially being denied access. } Earlier, Limpopo police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ronel Otto told reporters she had a message from the judge’s office that media would not be allowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000049307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-11465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000049307,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton11465.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000049307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=11465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}