The EFF formally opened a crimen injuria case against Hot 91.9fm radio host Sasha Martinengo after the DJ labelled the red berets' leader, Julius Malema, a "monkey" on the station's breakfast show on Tuesday.

He said: “[And] people still listen to this monkey.”

The media personality has since been dismissed by the station’s managing director, Lloyd Mudarai, with immediate effect.

EFF Gauteng chair Mandisa Mashego said though this was their first step in holding Martinegro accountable, they still wanted racism to be criminalised.

“We have formally opened a case against Sasha but what we want to push for is the criminalisation because the reason why we are subjected to charges such as crimen injuria is because racism in South Africa is not criminalised,” said Mashego outside the Douglasdale police station on Wednesday.

She told SowetanLIVE that the case will be transferred to the Honeydew police station as the station falls under that jurisdiction.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Martinengo apologised but didn’t retract his comments about Malema.

“I’m sorry if I offended anyone, but I stand by what I said. Anyone, irrespective of their race, colour, creed, religion, gender who disrespects a woman, is a monkey,” he said.

Martinengo remains a free man until such time that he is formally charged.

Mashego said they had difficulty with getting his physical address but vowed that he would appear in court soon.