Julius Malema, 45, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and a member of Parliament, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on Thursday.
The sentence came after a South African magistrate found him guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging a firearm in public and related offences arising from a 2018 incident.
Magistrate Twanet Olivier delivered the sentence at the East London magistrates’ court but granted Malema leave to appeal both the conviction and the sentence, meaning he will not be taken into custody while the appeal is pursued.
Malema stood in court in a dark suit and red tie and displayed little visible emotion as the sentence was read.
The offences stem from video footage of the EFF’s fifth‑anniversary celebrations in the Eastern Cape that shows Malema using a semi‑automatic rifle to fire several shots into the air.
He was convicted last year on five counts, including unlawful possession of the firearm, discharging it in public and reckless endangerment.
In handing down her ruling, Olivier rejected the defence characterisation of the incident as a spur‑of‑the‑moment act, saying the firing “was the event of the evening”.
She observed that, while his political standing did not affect the legal finding, Malema’s large following made his conduct particularly serious and warranted accountability.
Outside the court hundreds of supporters gathered, chanting and singing revolutionary songs; when the judge announced that Malema would be permitted to appeal, the crowd responded in Xhosa, “sigoduka naye” — “we are leaving with him today”.
Malema has maintained that the firearm was not his and told the court he fired to rouse the crowd. Following his guilty verdict in October he told supporters that “going to prison or death is a badge of honour” and vowed to pursue the challenge to the highest courts, including the Constitutional Court.
Malema rose to prominence as leader of the African National Congress Youth League before his expulsion from the ANC and the subsequent founding of the EFF.
The party’s radical economic platform, including calls for the seizure of white‑owned land and aggressive wealth redistribution, has eroded the ANC’s support and helped the EFF become South Africa’s fourth‑largest party in the 2024 election.
The prosecution followed a complaint by Afriforum after the 2018 video went viral.
The lobby group has been involved in other legal actions against Malema, including an equality court finding last year that he had committed hate speech for remarks at a 2022 rally — a ruling the EFF said took his comments out of context.
With leave to appeal granted, Malema will remain free pending the outcome of the appeals process, which his legal team has indicated will be pursued up to the Constitutional Court.
