A South African court said on Monday in Cape Town that the corruption trial against South Africa’s most controversial opposition politician, Julius Malema, was set to start.
Malema, founder of the opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, and a staunch critic of President Jacob Zuma’s alleged corruption, is facing charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption and money-laundering.
Malema was charged with having represented himself to be awarded a 4.1-million-dollar government contract while he was chief of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League.
Prosecutors claimed he was an indirect shareholder in the company awarding the contract.
Malema was once President Jacob Zuma’s protégé and leader of the ruling party’s youth league.
Malema was expelled from the ANC in 2012 for `hate speech and sowing divisions’ within the party.