The Supreme Court of Appeal will on Friday hand down judgment in an appeal by National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson Thandi Modise against a Western Cape High Court ruling.

In August last year, the High Court set aside Modise’s decision that Economic Freedom Fighter leader Julius Malema had to withdraw his statement that the “ANC government massacred” the mineworkers at Marikana and that the police officers who killed them represented the African National Congress government.

It set aside her decision to ask Malema to leave the National Assembly, after he refused to withdraw the remarks he made during a sitting in June 2014.

The court said Modise's ruling that Malema’s statement was unparliamentary was unlawful and he was justified in refusing to withdraw it.

On August 16, 2012, police shot dead 34 striking workers at Lonmin's mine in Marikana, North West. Ten people, including three miners, two police officers, and two Lonmin security guards, were killed during the strike the previous week.