"They're not in uniform, but they are police"

Juju's guards cause chaos

Judge says firearms will not be tolerated in court precinct

Apr 12, 2011

A defiant Julius Malema yesterday greeted hundreds of supporters, some of whom, just hours earlier, had sung the controversial "Shoot the Boer" struggle song outside the Johannesburg High Court, where the ANC Youth League leader is being sued for hate speech.

Using a megaphone to address the crowd from the steps of the court, Malema, who was surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards, said: "It is not me on trial, the revolution is on trial." 

Tensions in the hate speech case against Malema - brought by civil rights group Afriforum - sky-rocketed yesterday morning after Judge Collin Lamont said it had been "brought to his attention that there may be people bearing arms in this court. 

"I will not tolerate firearms within the precincts of this court," he said.

At both his court appearances Malema has been guarded at all times by at least five bodyguards armed with assault rifles. 

It is understood that ANC MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was again in court to support Malema, also had a cohort of bodyguards. 

On Monday, Department of Justice spokesman Tlali Tlali said that Malema's bodyguards "were police officers".  

BUT 2 DAYS BEFORE FLOYD SHIVAMBU SAID:

“It’s none of your business who is paying for it, but it is not government,” Shivambu said outside court during a recess, when asked about the guards. 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/Politics/article1014268.ece/Malema-warned-AfriForum-marchers 

"They're not in uniform, but they are police," said Tlali. 

SO WE AS TAX PAYERS ARE PAYING FOR THESE BODY GUARDS

Digest the above comments, are they or are they not police ? This is the mind set of these people.

But the police's Colonel Vishnu Naidoo yesterday said that was "not true" and that the guards were not linked to the police. 

Security was dramatically tightened after the lunch break, which saw Afriforum's lawyer Willie Spies and Afriforum deputy president Ernst Roets struggling to walk through a 30-strong group of ANC Youth League supporters singing the Dhubul' ibhunu song outside the court. 

Both Afriforum and the Transvaal Agricultural Union, the second complainant in the case, complained that members of their legal teams were barred from the court by bodyguards who were neither police nor official court security.

Lamont said he had "no idea" where the increased security had come from, but said it was "more than slightly unusual".

Roets was yesterday cross-examined by Malema's lawyer, Vincent Maleka, who asked if Afriforum had convened "a meeting of Afrikaners . to get a mandate?"

Roets replied that he "didn't think it was necessary for [Afriforum] to get a mandate".

The case continues today. 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1016881.ece/Jujus-guards-cause-chaos