{"id":2113,"date":"2012-09-26T10:30:06","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T10:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2113"},"modified":"2012-09-26T10:30:06","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T10:30:06","slug":"malema-granted-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2113","title":{"rendered":"Malema granted bail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was granted bail of R10,000 by the Polokwane Regional Court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Malema was officially charged with money-laundering, for allegedly “receiving proceeds from unlawful activities”.<\/p>\n

The affidavit he made in support of his application for bail was not read out in court. The case was postponed to November 30.<\/p>\n

Malema appeared with his business partner and co-accused Selbie Manthatha.<\/p>\n

An affidavit by Manthatha was read to the court by his counsel. It detailed his family life, his business and his assets.<\/p>\n

Before Malema’s affidavit could be read, the court adjourned for five minutes.<\/p>\n

When the case reconvened, bail was immediately granted to both of them.<\/p>\n

Hawks’ spokesman McIntosh Polela said the charge against Malema should not be taken lightly.<\/p>\n

“Money-laundering is not a frivolous charge, and it can incur a sentence of 15 years.”<\/p>\n

He said there had been a lot of speculation in the media of more charges being brought against Malema, but this was not true.<\/p>\n

Polela would not comment on the trial, and said he would prefer the case to be allowed to run its course.<\/p>\n

Supporters clung to the gates outside the court waiting for feedback on the decision about Malema’s bail.<\/p>\n

Hearing that it had been granted, they broke into song and dance.<\/p>\n

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said no incidents of violence were reported.<\/p>\n

“The crowd is very orderly and I hope it will remain smooth like this throughout the day.”<\/p>\n

The crowd outside had swelled to nearly 1000 people in anticipation of an address by Malema.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Malema welcomed him into the court on Wednesday with song and dance.<\/p>\n

Malema’s family and supporters stood up in court and sang loudly when he entered the dock.<\/p>\n

They sang: “Asani mahloni” [We are not ashamed]. Court officials did not stop the singing.<\/p>\n

Suspended African National Congress Youth League spokesman Floyd Shivambu, suspended secretary general Sindiso Magaqa and senior ANCYL members joined the dancing.<\/p>\n

Earlier, journalists, photographers and television camera crews were kicked out of the court.<\/p>\n

Despite applications by certain media houses to be allowed into the court, reporters were removed by officials who insisted the applications were for individuals and not crews.<\/p>\n

Pandemonium broke out when the journalists were forcibly removed. One was dragged out by two security guards.<\/p>\n

eNews Channel Africa reporter Karyn Maughan collapsed outside the court.<\/p>\n

Riot police were deployed inside the court to keep order.<\/p>\n

Some journalists were later allowed back inside.<\/p>\n

Supporters outside the court were adamant that Malema had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n

“There is nothing wrong [with what]… our leader did. If he did anything wrong why [is this case happening] now?” asked a supporter.<\/p>\n

“It is because we are going to Mangaung. This is just a plan to sabotage our leader.”<\/p>\n

Thulani Motsepe, 23, from Germiston said he took a taxi to Polokwane on Tuesday because he felt he needed to show the world that Malema was innocent.<\/p>\n

Malema’s supporters believed their presence would have an impact on the charges against him.<\/p>\n

“I came all the way from the inner city branch in Johannesburg, just to prove that there is no case against my leader,” said 27-year-old Xolelwa Ngele.<\/p>\n

A placard carried by supporters read: “hands-off our leader, he did nothing wrong”.<\/p>\n

When Malema arrived at the court, some of his supporters ran towards the court fence, jostling to get a glimpse of him.<\/p>\n

Lethabo Mandela, 57, from Seshego joined the crowed in song and dance. She said she was prepared to die for Malema.<\/p>\n

“Julius, I love you and I will support you until I die. I’m prepared to die for you. Police can come and kill me,” said Mandela, who joined the ANC in 1984.<\/p>\n

She said charges against Malema should be dropped, like the corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n

“If they can do it to Zuma they must also do it with Julius.”<\/p>\n

The crowd sang songs in favour of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, while mocking Zuma.<\/p>\n

Nearly 600 supporters gathered outside the court.<\/p>\n

Roads leading to the court were closed on Wednesday and police were monitoring the situation.<\/p>\n

There was barbed wire outside the court and police Nyalas were positioned in various places surrounding the court.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Malema supporters sang and danced outside the courthouse. The crowd was expected to swell as the day progressed.<\/p>\n

Others sat on the pavement, and leaned against the walls after participating in a night vigil for Malema on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Provincial ANCYL spokesman Klaas Mabunda claimed the crowd numbered 14,000 at 3am.<\/p>\n

“Most of them are not here now. They have gone to town to get food because they are hungry.”<\/p>\n

Malema is accused of money-laundering. The charge sheet lists him as accused number 10.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, four of his co-accused appeared in court and were granted bail of R40,000 each.<\/p>\n

They are accused of fraud, corruption and money-laundering, relating to a R52 million tender awarded to On-Point Engineers. Four companies were also charged.<\/p>\n

Malema handed himself over to the Polokwane police on Wednesday morning, before his court appearance, reported SABC. – Sapa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was granted bail of R10,000 by the Polokwane Regional Court on Wednesday. Malema was officially charged with money-laundering, for allegedly “receiving proceeds from unlawful activities”. The affidavit he made in support of his application for bail was not read out in court. The case was postponed to November … Continue reading “Malema granted bail”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[321,1266,346,1392],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-bail","tag-court","tag-malema","tag-polokwane"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/malemaj1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions\/2116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}