A South African court has sentenced opposition politician Julius Malema to five years in imprisonment for firing a rifle into the air at a political rally in 2018, a ruling that could remove him from parliament.
Magistrate Twanet Olivier delivered the sentence on Thursday in a court in KuGompo City, formerly known as East London, finding that Malema had deliberately violated firearm laws.
“It wasn’t an impulsive act,” Olivier said. “It was the event of the evening.”
Malema, 45, is the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the fourth-largest party in South Africa’s parliament. He was convicted in October of unlawfully possessing a firearm and discharging a weapon in a public space. Prosecutors said he fired a rifle into the air during an EFF rally in 2018.
Malema had pleaded not guilty, arguing that the shots were intended to be celebratory.
The politically charged case drew a show of support from hundreds of EFF supporters dressed in the party’s signature red, who gathered outside the court. Following the sentencing, the court granted Malema leave to appeal the ruling.
The sentence means Malema can no longer serve as a member of parliament. EFF supporters have warned they will stage protests if their leader is sent to prison.
Malema has claimed the charges against him were politically motivated, alleging the case was driven by AfriForum, a lobby group representing South Africa’s Afrikaner minority. However, during sentencing, Magistrate Olivier stressed that the ruling was not aimed at the opposition party.
“It is not a political party that has been convicted here, but an individual,” Olivier said.
South Africa’s judiciary is constitutionally independent, and courts have repeatedly rejected claims of political interference in legal proceedings.
