Floyd Shivambu Cleared Of Assaulting Photographer
On Wednesday, 1 June, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court cleared Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) second-in-command Floyd Shivambu of common assault.
On March 20, 2018, Shivambu was charged with common assault after an altercation with Media24 photographer Adrian de Kock in the parliamentary precinct.
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De Kock testified in court that he photographed Shivambu as he exited a vehicle and that the politician demanded that he delete the photos. A request that the lensman ignored.
“He claimed Shivambu and two unidentified men attacked him,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.
“After a protracted trial, the defence applied for a Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act and the court granted it. The NPA accepts the decision of the court,” added the spokesperson.
Magistrate Lindiwe Gura ruled that de Kock’s and witnesses’ evidence was contradictory. She also claimed that the complainant contradicted his own medical evidence and that one of the witnesses shaped his testimony to fit the State’s case.
Following the court’s decision on Wednesday, EFF leader Julius Malema tweeted,, “We won; those frivolous charges brought by compromised NPA against our [Deputy President] Floyd Shivambu were dismissed by the court today.”
Shivambu chose a simple graphic, tweeting a picture of a gavel with the words “case dismissed” written above it.
