Money-laundering charge against Malema

Julius Malema, the South African political activist, has been charged with money laundering by a South African court. He appeared in a police station in Polokwane, in the northeastern Limpopo province, before entering the regional court on Wednesday.When he entered the courtroom people there started cheering. Malema was given 10,000 rand ($1,250) bail after being charged with laundering the proceeds of ill-gotten public contracts.He has been locked in a long-running feud with his former comrades in the ruling ANC party, and with its leader, President Jacob Zuma.Using the strikes to attack his rivals within the party, Malema has called for the mines to be made “ungovernable”.Violence during a strike at a mine in Marikana left 46 dead, 35 of whom were killed by police.Associates chargedPolice issued an arrest warrant for Malema, a former ANC Youth League leader, on Friday shortly after he seized on unrest at South Africa’s mines to launch political attacks against Zuma.Four of his business associates appeared in court on Tuesday on charges including fraud, corruption and money laundering for a 52 million rand ($6.5m) contract awarded to the company On Point Engineering for road services in Limpopo, Malema’s home province. They pleaded not guilty and were granted a bail of 40,000 rand ($5,000) each. The case was postponed to November 28.The charges against Malema and his business colleagues detail a complex pyramid of companies accused of lying and influence-peddling to gain an infrastructure contract in Limpopo, worth 52 million rand ($6.3m).