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Malema’s family members maintain his innocence, and are unwavering in their support.
They are confident that Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema – who is on trial on more than 50 charges, including fraud and corruption related to tenders in Limpopo – will walk away from the case a free man.
They believe that the matter is political and the evidence produced by the state is insufficient.
Members of Malema’s family arrived in court this morning ahead of the verdict into whether Malema will get a separate trial from his two co-accused in the more than 50 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering.
Malema’s aunts Nurse Malema and Annie Phaleng, and his cousin Tshepo Malema arrived at the Polokwane Magistrates’ Court, where Malema is appearing before the Northern Gauteng High Court today.
“We’re a praying family and we believe our son is innocent. Our only problem is that we have been coming to this court for three years now and we would like for this case to be concluded already,” Nurse Malema said.
“We’re not even living in any fear of seeing him going to jail because we know he is innocent. Even his grandmother Sarah is not that stressed, except for the pain of this prolonged court process.”
The family was drawing courage from Malema himself, who seemed confident when he appeared in court yesterday.
The high-profile case has been ongoing for nearly three years and has been characterised by a number of postponements
Malema’s attorney, Mike Hellens, indicated to the court after the state asked for a postponement that they would apply for Malema to be tried separately if a postponement was granted.
Malema later told his supporters that he was ready to clear his name and was hoping for a speedy trial. The state asked for a postponement because one of the accused, Kagisho Dichabe, was sick and would not be able to come to court during the six weeks for which the trial had been set.
Malema was in court with another co-accused, Lesiba Gwangwa, yesterday.
There was tight security around the court this morning ahead of Malema’s arrival.
