- EFF Leader Julius Malema says police officers should be accustomed to circumstances where they will be pushed around.
- Malema was speaking at the Randburg Magistrate's Court, where his trial was postponed.
- The trial will now sit on 28 and 29 October.
EFF leader Julius Malema and EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi are on trial for assaulting a police officer - but Malema says the police officer should be the one apologising as well as the presidential protection unit and the VIP protection unit.
Malema was speaking at the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday following the postponement of the trial.
The trial will now run from 28 until 29 October.
While the State was set to bring forward its witnesses to stand on Tuesday, the magistrate, Lieland Poonsamy, had to postpone proceedings after having to hear a number of applications from media seeking to cover the hearing.
Addressing supporters outside the court, Malema said: "Why do you have a common assault [case] against a police officer? Police get pushed every day. If they were to open common assault cases, then there will be no dockets available because police get pushed every day."
Malema and other EFF members are already seated. Proceedings are expected to start just after 09:00. #EFF @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/nzmAVTNG9O
— Sesona Sestien Ngqakamba (@Sesona_Ngqaks) October 13, 2020
Malema and Ndlozi are accused of assaulting a police colonel in April 2018 during the funeral of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
News24 previously reported the incident was captured on CCTV footage and the officer later opened a case.
Malema said police officers should be used to difficult circumstances, where they would sometimes be pushed around by disgruntled and, often emotional, people.
He added the officer, who laid a complaint, was a "white man who suffers from privilege [and] thinks that he cannot be pushed the same way police get pushed all the time".
"Police must be pushed because, half the time, they enter difficult areas, even where people are emotional at times, some are irrational, they do not think properly.
"When a policeman gets pushed in a situation like that, they always understand that, as an officer of the law, you will get in difficult situations.
"You have to be guided by the spirit of Ubuntu from time to time and understand that, when people are at gravesites, the majority of them are emotional on that day.
"But [white people] do not understand Ubuntu. Ubuntu does not have an English word, that's why they don't know it because it doesn't have a translation," the leader said.
He continued:
Malema also raised concern that members of the party, who were peacefully marching outside the court as proceedings were under way, were guarded by police officers.
He said the police seemed to associate gatherings involving black people with violence.
He also said the police were not in Senekal in the Free State last week, where chaotic scenes broke out during the court appearance of suspects accused of the murder of farm manager, Brendin Horner.
"The police have come here to guard a peaceful march, but, in Senekal, where whites burnt police vans and entered the court with force, [and] police station with force, there were no policemen to sniff around.
"Black people are meeting here, police will come. White terrorists, when they meet in Senekal, when they block N14 and N1, there's no policemen with a stinking boot next to white people.
"But when black people meet, policemen will not waste any time to wear a stinking boot... They think where black people meet, there will be violence because they've associated us with violence."