South African opposition figure Malema sentenced to five years in prison for firing a gun

Leading South African opposition politician Julius Malema, 45, has been sentenced to five years after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public.

But Magistrate Twanet Olivier allowed the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and MP to appeal against the sentencing, meaning that he was not immediately taken to prison.

Earlier, standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as Olivier read out the sentence even though his political future was at stake.

Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including the unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging it in public and reckless endangerment.

If his sentence is upheld, Malema would be disqualified from being an MP for five years. However, political analyst Sandile Swana told the BBC that the appeals process was likely to take several years so the EFF leader would be able to pursue his political career in the meantime.

The charges related to an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema firing a semi-automatic rifle in the air during his party's fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country's Eastern Cape province.

During the trial in KuGompo City, which is the new name for East London, Malema told the court that he had fired the shots in celebration.

But during her sentencing ruling Olivier said "it wasn't... an impulsive act. It was the event of the evening," the AFP news agency reports.

She added that while his political standing had no bearing on her findings, he was someone who had a large following in South Africa and should account for his actions.

Addressing some of those followers outside court, he made a series of unsubstantiated allegations against Olivier and said, without offering direct evidence, that the conviction and sentencing were a result of a conspiracy.

"They are trying by all means to silence this voice. They will never win," AFP quotes him as saying. "We are fighting the enemy and the enemy is white supremacy."

Malema has a long reputation as being an outspoken, charismatic and radical left-wing politician and has a loyal band of supporters.

Hundreds had come to back Malema with chants and revolutionary songs.

When news came through that he would be allowed to appeal, they started calling out in the Xhosa language "sigoduka naye", which translates as "we are leaving with him today".

Malema was once the leader of the youth wing of the governing African National Congress. But after being expelled from the party, following a falling-out with then President Jacob Zuma, he went on to form the EFF.

With Malema's calls for the seizure of white-owned land and arguments that more should be done to transfer wealth to the black majority, the EFF ate away at the ANC share of the vote. It became the country's fourth largest party at the 2024 elections.

After being found guilty last October, Malema was quoted as telling those outside the court that "going to prison or death is a badge of honour".

"We cannot be scared of prison [or] to die for the revolution. Whatever they want to do, they must know we will never retreat."

He also vowed to take a challenge to the judgment up to South Africa's highest court, the Constitutional Court.

Malema's prosecution came when Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a contentious relationship with him and the EFF, opened a case against Malema after the video went viral.

The secretary-general of the ANC, which leads a 10-party coalition government that does not include the EFF, expressed sympathy with Malema.

"The main message we are being told here by the racist AfriForum is that if we dare stand up for black people, dare stand up for the marginalised and dare stand up for our generational mission we will be targeted," Fikile Mbalula wrote on X in response to Thursday's sentencing.

AfriForum has previously said it condemns all forms of racism and a spokesperson said this case was about "reckless and illegal actions" and not race.

The organisation also had a role in another conviction against Malema.

Last August, he was found guilty of hate speech by the equality court, following remarks he made at a rally in 2022.

After an incident where a white man allegedly assaulted an EFF member, Malema said: "No white man is going to beat me up... you must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing."

The equality court ruled that these remarks "demonstrated an intent to incite harm", but the EFF said they were taken out of context.

Malema has also been criticised for chanting a song that includes the words "shoot the Boer (Afrikaner); shoot the farmer" at his political rallies.

US President Donald Trump brought this up during a tense White House meeting with South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa last May.

Afrikaner lobby groups have tried to get the song banned, but South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that a "reasonably well-informed person" would understand that the song, which dates from the fight against white-minority rule, was not meant to be taken literally and so was not hate speech.

Additional reporting by Nobuhle Simelane

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