The Economic Freedom Fighters secretary-general, Mzingisi Marshall Dlamini, intends to appeal against his 18-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting policeman Johan Carstens during the 2019 State of the Nation Address in Parliament. 

Dlamini was sentenced to 18 months suspended for five years by the Cape Town Magistrates Court this morning. He was also ordered to pay a fine of R6,000 or face three months in prison for malicious property damage. He hit Johan Carstens in the face and broke his glasses in February 2019 after the State of the Nation Address. In court, Dlamini pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had reacted that way because he was on high alert after a tip-off that Malema was going to be assassinated at the State of the Nation Address with a poison injection. He said he attacked Carstens when he saw him heading towards Malema.

Reacting to the sentencing, the EFF said it would appeal the sentence since they believe that Dlamini is innocent. In a statement, the EFF said Dlamini was defending the EFF leadership from what he rightfully perceived as an imminent threat to their collective safety. ?The Magistrate rightly dismissed the politically motivated argument by the state, which sought to imprison a responsible member of society who was executing his responsibility of defending his leadership. The court rationally found that our secretary-general is a functioning member of society and holds numerous qualifications up to the tertiary level and removing him from his role as a leader of society would serve no constructive purpose. The rationale used by the court in its sentencing reaffirms our view that the case in its entirety was vindictive and is part of a broader attempt to provoke and then criminalise the leadership of the EFF,? the statement read.

The red berets further said that that morning, the police communicated that there was a threat against their leader, Julius Malema. ?This was confirmed on the witness stand by police in the court. Therefore, the actions of our secretary-general in defense of our leadership were necessary and revolutionary. The EFF and the secretary-general will therefore appeal both the judgment and the conviction,? the EFF said in a statement.