Julius Malema's KZN 'land grab' case postponed

The case against EFF leader Julius Malema, who is accused of contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act, has been postponed to September 9.

On Monday, Malema's lawyers appeared in the Newcastle Magistrate's Court on his behalf, in connection with remarks he made at an EFF rally in the northern KwaZulu-Natal town in June 2016.

At the event, Malema told his supporters to occupy land because it belonged to blacks and whites could not claim ownership of South African land.

Following an appearance in the same court in November that year, Malema urged his supporters to “occupy the land, because they have failed to give you the land”.

Malema has been charged for the same offence in Bloemfontein, in the Free State, after he made similar remarks in 2014.

In a high court application in Pretoria last week, Malema called for the Riotous Assemblies Act to be scrapped.

EFF KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairman and MPL Vusi Khoza told TimesLIVE that matters at municipal levels will continue to be postponed until their case in the Constitutional Court is finalised. 

The EFF is expected to approach the Constitutional Court to have the act declared unconstitutional.