The former head of security for the EFF, Marshall Dlamini, must wait a month to learn if he will be sentenced to prison after being found guilty of slapping a police officer at the 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA).
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His sentencing proceedings started in the Cape Town Regional Court on Friday, with supporters both in the gallery and outside the court taking a break from monitoring election results.
If sentenced to 12 months or more, he could lose the chance to go to Parliament, should the EFF decide to send him once the election results are finalised.
In April, Dlamini was convicted of assault with grievous bodily harm and damage to property for slapping Warrant Officer Johan Carstens in the face during a post-SONA altercation in the lobby of the National Assembly.
Dlamini broke Carstens’ glasses and caused a cut on the bridge of his nose.
Dlamini’s defence was that he was on high alert because he had received a tip-off that day that a right-winger was planning to assassinate party leader Julius Malema with a ‘poison injection.’
When he saw Carstens bearing down on Malema as the EFF leader pushed through the crowded foyer while everyone else was in a holding pattern for presidential photos, he thought it was the moment the anonymous tipster had warned about.
He said he reacted the way he did to neutralise the threat.
In April, Magistrate Nasha Banwari rejected the assassination threat explanation, stating that Dlamini was not a credible witness. Banwari added that the video footage did not support Dlamini’s claim either, as it showed Carstens surrounded by EFF members and backing off with his hands raised before Dlamini hit him.
Carstens did not retaliate. Prosecutor Marcell Malgas stated on Friday that in his victim impact statement, Carstens said he was known for having a good relationship with MPs, so the incident left him feeling shocked, embarrassed, confused, and anxious.
‘It was completely unprovoked,’ said Malgas.
She added that the smack was so severe that Carstens, who has a large frame, stumbled and could have tripped on a nearby step and sustained further injury.
‘A further aggravating circumstance was that the accused was bold enough to do it in front of everybody,’ said Malgas.
She added that while Dlamini acknowledged he smacked Carstens, he justified it and showed no remorse.
‘In the same circumstances, he would act the same way, your worship, and that is the danger.’
Arina Smit, a social worker and play therapist with around 500 reports for courts under her belt, was brought in by Dlamini’s counsel to testify in mitigation of sentence.
She said her assessments of Dlamini showed he was not a violent or aggressive person and was at a low risk of reoffending.
Smit added that various factors could influence adults’ responses to potential conflict situations, and how their backgrounds influenced their handling of these situations. She presented a detailed analysis of Dlamini’s upbringing in Mzimkulu in a supportive two-parent home with three sisters and a brother, where hard work, respect, and pride were important to the family.
Smit said that nobody wanted to shame their family in his small village, and neither Dlamini nor his friends were ever sent to the village chief for discipline.
‘The name and honour of families was very important,’ she added from her interview with Dlamini.
Smit said Dlamini was anxious when he arrived for his assessment, which she attributed to his not knowing what to expect, but she found him to be a humble person who strived to be peaceful.
The court was filled with EFF supporters who frequently checked their phones for election result updates, and outside the court, supporters in red T-shirts, complete with a portable cordless microphone with built-in flashing lights, sang for him.
Smit said that early incidents of violence or anti-social behaviour could sometimes indicate future violence, but she found no violence or aggression in Dlamini’s past.
His father died of diabetes complications in 2001, and his mother of a brain tumour in 2012, but he visits his village every December because he considers friends and family ‘sacred.’
She added that the married father of two ‘likes stability and consistency.’
‘The accused is generally a law-abiding citizen,’ Smit said. ‘He was in trouble with the law for the first time at the age of 46.’
She added he slapped the police officer in the context of his role as the EFF’s head of security, and in a particular context and set of circumstances.
‘He thought he was acting lawfully.’
Smit recommended a sentence of five years, wholly suspended, 200 hours of community service, and a conciliatory meeting with Carstens.
Dlamini’s counsel, advocate Laurance Hodes SC, said a fine could also be appropriate.
He added that Dlamini did not have a firearm, so he could not comment on whether he should be declared unfit to have a gun.
Malgas rejected these proposals, saying Dlamini showed no remorse and maintained that what he did was right.
She used the sentencing of the ANC’s Andile Lungisa as a reference point for the magistrate to consider whether Dlamini should go to jail.
Lungisa spent two years of a three-year sentence in prison for smashing a jug over DA councillor Rano Kayser’s head in 2016.
The prosecutor proposed a three-year sentence, but in this case, with two years wholly suspended.
This would put Dlamini in jail for one year. And, Malgas said, without remorse, there would be no point in Dlamini and Carstens sitting down to talk.
‘He does not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions,’ she added.
Sentencing was postponed to 28 June.
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Picture: Theo Jeptha / Gallo Images