EFF MP Dlamini's 'SONA klap' case postponed to June
16 April 2019
"It is the revolution that is under arrest! It is the revolution that is on trial!" EFF general secretary Godrich Gardee said to about 50 supporters outside the Cape Town Magistrate's Court, where EFF MP Marshall Dlamini appeared on an assault charge.
The charge relates to an incident in which he was caught on video slapping a plain-clothed police officer after the February State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Dlamini, who was not clad in red like the rest of the supporters, cheered him on outside the court after his brief appearance.
The case was postponed to June 5 so that particulars of the case could be provided to his counsel and for possible representations to a senior prosecutor.
Dlamini's counsel agreed to a postponement in June because it is "after the election".
Dlamini wasn't arrested and is still out on a warning.
"Long live the commander-in-chief (CIC), long live! Long live the commander-in-chief, long live!" Dlamini greeted his supporters, pumping his fist in the air.
“Fighters, thank you," he said.
"As you know, we are busy in KZN, because we are preparing for victory, so I left the commander-in-chief [EFF leader Julius Malema] alone there, so I must rush to the province, because the eighth of May (election day) is around the corner," he said before having a quick word with Gardee and rushing off as the EFF supporters broke out in song.
Gardee then impressed the importance of a door-to-door campaign on the "ground forces" ahead of the election, which he said would see the "commander-in-chief" elected the new president.
Grave threat
The slapping incident occurred after the "commander-in-chief" Malema and EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu pushed their way through people waiting in the National Assembly's lobby to exit the House after President Cyril Ramaphosa's SONA on the evening of February 7.
The incident was filmed.
The day after the video went viral, the EFF claimed in a statement that Dlamini responded the way he had because the party received a threat on the life of Malema, and the "threat implicates elite members of the police, who are in collaboration with right-wing groups to take the life of the CIC".
Despite the grave "threat" on his life, Malema faced the media outside the National Assembly just after the incident, where he was pictured smiling broadly.
After the incident, Dlamini tweeted: "I will never bow down, nor account to arrogant racists and white supremacy."
He is ninth on the EFF's list for the National Assembly for the upcoming election.
