Johannesburg - EFF President Julius Malema appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court on Monday relating to charges of allegedly discharging a firearm.
Malema is charged with his co-accused, Adriaan Snyman; presiding over the matter was Magistrate Twanet Olivier.
The proceedings were dominated by video and audio evidence provided by witnesses; one of the witnesses was an investigator for the Hawks Digital Forensic Unit, Dwayne Frederick Francis.
Advocate Laurence Hodes, who is representing Malema, questioned various aspects of his report regarding video footage that he obtained from a police officer’s phone’s WhatsApp, which allegedly had the viral social media videos.
Hodes pointed out several inconsistencies in court about the procedure taken to obtain the video footage from the phone of a police officer.
Retired SAPS Warrant Officer Amanda Steenkamp was the state’s second witness on the day. She was called to be a witness for the state and is a photo identification specialist.
Who was tasked with trying to identify the uniqueness of a firearm and the suspects, which, in her report, was inconclusive.
"It says that when you look into the parts that are visible, they are in the shape of a firearm or a rifle. I am a layman in this. You can see the shapes; you can see the shapes of a person and the outline of the person. But to mark out discriminating characteristics, it's a negative report," said Steenkamp.
Steenkamp said that she never saw the actual CCTV footage of the alleged incident, only still shots as well as still photographs of the viral social media video.
She said that she was not sure who compiled the images.
Malema has previously said that the stage shooting was a "simulation."
He said that it was just a part of an act of celebration that occurred at the time.
The alleged shooting was largely circulated via social media, where he appeared with a rifle and allegedly discharged several shots skyward.
The case was postponed and is set to resume tomorrow, with three witnesses set to take the bench.
The Star