Agency Report
South African opposition politician Julius Malema bagged a five-year jail term on Thursday for firing a rifle in the air at a rally, a magistrate’s court ruled.
Malema, 45, is one of South Africa’s most prominent politicians.
He was convicted last year on five charges including unlawful possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon in a public place over the 2018 incident at a stadium in the Eastern Cape province.
The magistrate, Twanet Oliver, said: “It wasn’t … an impulsive act … It wasn’t anger. It was the event of the evening.”
Malema’s lawyers applied for leave to appeal the magistrate’s decision within minutes of it being read out in a court in KuGompo City, formerly East London.
The sentence, if confirmed after all appeals, would bar Malema from serving as a lawmaker.
State prosecutors had argued for a 15-year jail sentence. “The accused is a political leader with a huge following … young people emulate this kind of behaviour,” the prosecutor Joel Cesar said during the sentencing arguments on Wednesday. “He’s a member of parliament, a lawmaker, but he breaks the law.“
The case was brought by AfriForum, a conservative lobby group that claims to represent the interests of the Afrikaner minority. AfriForum had also criticised Malema for chanting “Kill The Boer” at rallies and brought a separate case accusing him of hate speech.
That would be a major setback for Malema’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which has strong support among young South Africans frustrated by the racial inequality that has persisted since the end of white minority rule in 1994.
The EFF is the fourth-biggest party in parliament.
The EFF is known for its disruptive parliamentary protests and describes itself as anti-imperialist and inspired by Marxism. It secured 9.5% of the vote in national elections in 2024, down from 10.8% in 2019.
Malema, 45, the son of a domestic worker, founded the EFF in 2013 after he was expelled from the ruling ANC for “sowing division.”
Malema had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Recall that Malema arrived Nigeria between August 23-24 and attended the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Enugu.
During his trip, he paid a courtesy visit on Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at Lagos House, Marina, on Saturday, August 24, 2025.
