JULIUS Malema appeared in court yesterday for allegedly assaulting a man during an apparently booze-fuelled rage at the weekend.

JULIUS Malema appeared in court yesterday for allegedly assaulting a man during an apparently booze-fuelled rage at the weekend.

He is alleged to have lost his cool following an argument during a drinking binge and assaulted the man "half-dead", a source said.

Agape court officials, the presiding magistrate and members of the public waited vigilantly as the state prosecutor called out Malema's name to summons him to the dock.

But to everyone's amazement, the accused - who is facing charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm - turned out to be a 21-year-old man from KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga, and not the ANCYL president.

The dramatic incident was confirmed by the man's lawyer, Mphafolane Koma. "It is true that my client shares the same name as the ANCYL president."

The packed court was expecting to see the youth league leader when the matter was called in court. You should have seen the curious looks on everyone's face.

"They were all taken aback to see a slightly younger and different Malema," he said.

The accused's namesake, the ANCYL leader, has also been in and out of court trying to fight off his legal woes stemming from controversial public statements he made about President Jacob Zuma's rape accuser and the singing of Kill the Boer song.

Koma managed to get the younger Malema released on a free bail.

This after he evoked the new Judicial Amendment Matters Act under which even murder suspects are allowed free bail. He returns to the same court on May 25.