Court jails S/African opposition leader 5 years on gun charges
Julius Malema, 45, a South African opposition politician, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of illegally possessing and shooting a firearm in public.
Malema’s lawyer immediately filed an appeal against the decision to prevent the Economic Freedom Fighters leader and MP from being imprisoned.
Malema, dressed in a dark suit and crimson tie, expressed no emotion as Magistrate Twanet Olivier read out the sentence in the East London courtroom.
In 2025, he was found guilty of five charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging it in a public place, and reckless endangerment.
The allegations stemmed from an event in 2018 in which Malema was seen firing several shots in the air with a semi-automatic rifle during his party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in the Eastern Cape region.
Malema claimed in his defence that the handgun was not his and that he fired the bullets to excite the mob, according to South African news site SowetanLIVE.
However, during her sentencing, Olivier stated that it was not an impulsive act. According to AFP, that was the evening’s main event.
Malema has a lengthy history of being an outspoken, charismatic, and extreme left-wing politician with a devoted base of fans.
A man wearing a red EFF T-shirt stands among a mob of Malema supporters. He may be seen chanting and reaching out to clap.
Malema’s party followers have come out in numbers to show solidarity. Hundreds gathered outside the court to support Malema with chanting and revolutionary songs.
Malema previously led the African National Congress’s youth branch. However, after being dismissed from the ANC following a disagreement with then-President Jacob Zuma, he founded the EFF.
With Malema’s proposals for the seizure of white-owned land and assertions that more should be done to transfer wealth to the black majority, the EFF eroded the ANC’s share of the vote. At the 2024 elections, it ranked as the fourth-largest party in the country.
South Africa’s Julius Malema commemorates ten years of the EFF. Malema was cited as telling those outside the court in East London that “going to prison or death is a badge of honour” after being found guilty last October.
“We can’t be afraid of prison or dying for the revolution. Whatever they plan, they must understand that we will never back down.”
He also threatened to contest the judgment before South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.
Malema’s prosecution began when Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a strained relationship with him and the EFF, filed a complaint against him after the video went viral.
The forum also had a part in another conviction of the politician.
The Equality Court convicted him of hate speech in August of last year, following words he made at a 2022 protest.
Following an incident in which a white man allegedly assaulted an EFF member, Malema stated, “No white man is going to beat me up… you must never be afraid to kill.” A revolution necessitates some degree of violence.”
The equality court determined that these words “demonstrated an intent to incite harm,” but the EFF argued that they were taken out of context.