JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South African opposition leader julius malema He was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to breaking gun laws by firing a rifle at a political rally in 2018.
He was released on appeal, which will be heard at a later date.
If the verdict and sentence are upheld, Malema will be disqualified as a lawmaker. South African law bars anyone from serving in Parliament if they have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine.
Malema was convicted in October on five counts, including illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, discharging a firearm in a built-up area and reckless endangerment.
Malema addressed hundreds of supporters of his party, popularly known as “the fighters”, many of whom had come from different provinces to attend the sentencing. Wearing their Red Party regalia, they chanted and sang before and after the sentencing.
The defiant Malema criticized the magistrate, claiming she was biased towards him in the entire case. “We were tried by a magistrate who doesn't read, who uses emotions, who speaks politics. We are done with him, we are going to a higher court,” he said.
Tejasvi MLA, After the video of the incident went viral, the leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party was charged along with his bodyguard Anton Snyman. Snyman was found not guilty.
Sentencing, Magistrate Twenet Ollivier said she considered the seriousness of the crime when determining the sentence. “We hear on a daily or weekly basis about kids playing in front yards, across the street, who are caught in the crossfire, random shots being fired, killing people. This is the first time that we're hearing, it's being called a celebratory shooting,” Ollivier said.
During his trial and sentencing, Malema said that the charges against him were politically motivated because they were made by AfriForum, a lobby group for the white Afrikaner minority, which has been at odds with Malema for years.
Ollivier said the sentence and verdict were based solely on his actions that day.
Malema, whose party is the fourth largest in the country, is a divisive figure, primarily because of his party's policies, which have included the acquisition of white-owned land without compensation and the nationalization of mines and banks.
he appeared in a Video shown by US President Donald Trump Last year during a tense meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, where he was singing a controversial anti-apartheid song that some have interpreted as calling for violence against Africans.