Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says he will not apologise for his condemnation of the magistrate who presided over his firearm discharge case.
Malema, alongside his bodyguard, Adriaan Snyman, were accused of discharging a firearm at an EFF rally at the Mdantsane's Sisa Dukashe Stadium in 2018.
Last week, Malema lost his legal challenge to have the case struck off the court roll in the East London Magistrate's Court. However, Magistrate Twanet Olivier said she believed the two had a case to answer and denied Malema's bid.
This led to Malema's scathing attack on the Olivier, calling her "an incompetent magistrate".
He further accused Olivier of being a "sponsored judge", claiming that her decision was “politically influenced”.
“A magistrate who adjourns the court during judgments to go and receive Pravin Gordhan’s call, Ramaphosa’s call and receive Batohi’s call, when she comes back to give her judgment she is shaking like hell because it is not her judgment, it is a sponsored judgment,” he said.
The Justice Ministry lambasted Malema's outburst, adding that while it is permissible to criticise and debate the reasoning of judicial officers' decisions, attacking their person and directing sensational conspiracy theories at judicial officers is not correct by anyone.
"We call upon all role players to ensure they uphold the independence of the judiciary by seeking accountability through established channels, not populist channels where no due process can be established. It is common cause that where one believes there is questionable conduct by a judicial officer, complaints should be duly filed with the Judicial Services Commission or the Magistrates Commission, as the case may be," the ministry said in a statement.
Malema has stated that he said nothing wrong and refused to apologise.
He went on to say that he will never stop talking about judges because the public must never make the judges God.
IOL