By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Day five of the firearms trial of EFF leader Julius Malema saw a police ballistic expert being cross-examined by defence counsel, Advocate Laurence Hordes, in the East London Regional Court on Friday.
Colonel Mandisi Mngwadleka testified on Thursday that he had been asked by the former prosecutor ( Advocate Elna Smit) to give an opinion regarding a serial number that was found on the breech block of a rifle.
He told the court, that this did not correspond with any of the serial numbers of the rifles examined in the case.
Malema, who celebrated his 41st birthday in the courtroom on Thursday, has pleaded not guilty to five charges brought against him by the State for allegedly discharging a firearm at the party’s 5th-anniversary celebrations in East London in 2018.
Afriforum pursued criminal charges after a video, showing Malema firing what looked like a rifle, had gone viral.
The State called several witnesses to the stand this week.
Malema is charged alongside security company director, Adriaan Snyman, who is facing a single charge of Contravening the Firearms Control Act.
In the years leading up to the trial, Malema’s legal team has argued that the gun used in the video was a toy.
Malema is facing charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharge of a firearm in a built-up area and failure to take reasonable precaution to person or property, and reckless endangerment to person or property.
The trial was postponed to 5 September 2022.