• Senior EFF leaders Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi will appear in court in October. 
• They allegedly assaulted a police colonel at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's funeral in 2018.
• The decision to prosecute them came after pressure from lobby group AfriForum. 

The Randburg Magistrate's Court on Monday set the date for the trial of Julius Malema, leader of the EFF, and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, former EFF spokesperson, for 13 and 28 October.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the trial date was agreed on by the State and defence and the matter was postponed in the absence of the accused.

The pair allegedly assaulted a police colonel in April 2018 during the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. 

The incident was caught on CCTV, and the officer subsequently opened a case against the two. 

The NPA decided to prosecute them after sustained pressure from lobby group AfriForum, which announced in July last year it would approach the court with a mandamus application that would compel it to make a decision regarding the prosecution of Malema and Ndlozi.

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In September last year, the NPA communicated with the lobby group that it would prosecute them.

According to a statement by AfriForum, both Malema and Ndlozi would also have to appear in court on 14 September for a court investigation into whether the warrants of arrest against them should be suspended because they failed to attend previous court proceedings.

This was due to Covid-19 regulations. The prosecutor also indicated that the original charge sheet could not be found at this stage, which meant that the warrant of arrest could not be executed on Monday. 

"AfriForum welcomes the setting of a court date, because we have thought from the start that there is a prima facie case against Malema and Ndlozi.

The NPA reconsidered [its] initial refusal to prosecute after continued pressure from AfriForum and has since instituted prosecution. Now the legal process must run its course; however, we will continue to support the SAPS colonel," Phyllis Vorster, prosecutor at AfriForum's Private Prosecution Unit, said on Monday.