For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: Malema fails in bid to have gun charges thrown out of court; Multi-Party Charter formally welcomes ACDP; And, NPA  says Zuma has no room to escape facing trial

Malema fails in bid to have gun charges thrown out of court

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and his co-accused Adriaan Snyman have failed in their bid to have charges related to the violation of the Firearms Act withdrawn against them.

Today, East London Magistrate Twanett Olivier dismissed the two accused's application to withdraw all charges against them due to lack of evidence.

The two, who had pleaded not guilty to all six charges levelled against them, had invoked Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Malema and his bodyguard, Snyman, are charged with a shooting incident that took place in 2018 when they were at Mdantsane's Sisa Dukashe Stadium during the fifth birthday celebrations of the Economic Freedom Fighters in East London.

Multi-Party Charter formally welcomes ACDP

The members of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa have formally welcomed the African Christian Democratic Party as the Charter’s newest member.

The Multi-Party Charter said only by uniting could it unseat the African National Congress and bring in a “capable, accountable, caring government” to address South Africa’s challenges.

Parties already part of Charter include the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, United Independent Movement, Spectrum Party and the Independent SA National Civic Organisation.

The leaders of the eight Charter parties reaffirmed their commitment to the vision of ‘A new government to build a just, inclusive and prosperous South Africa based on opportunity, freedom and security for all of its citizens’.

And, NPA  says Zuma has no room to escape facing trial

Former president Jacob Zuma's latest bid to force the removal of his corruption prosecutor Billy Downer is already dead in the water, says the State, because the pillars of his case "have been repeatedly and emphatically dismissed" in six different court rulings.

It is the State's case Zuma was kept on a corrupt retainer by his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, who then used his political clout to further his own business interests.

The NPA also claimed Shaik facilitated a R500 000 a year bribe for Zuma from French arms company Thales, in exchange for his "political protection" from a potentially damaging Arms Deal inquiry.

After 18 years of protracted litigation, the charges against Zuma being unlawfully withdrawn and then reinstated and the former president's repeated unsuccessful accusations of wrongdoing against the State, the NPA has yet to lead its first witness against Zuma.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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