South Africa’s Julius Malema found guilty in gunshot case
South African politician and founder of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, Julius Malema, has been found guilty of publicly discharging a firearm, an offence that may earn the communist party leader a maximum of a 15-year jail sentence.
Mr Malema in a 2018 video was seen firing several shots in the air, during his party’s fifth anniversary celebration held in South Africa Eastern Cape Province.
The 44-year-old politician was said to have fired between 14 and 15 live rounds on a stage in front of 20,000 EFF supporters.
He was also convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging it in a public space and reckless endangerment of a public gathering.
Mr Malema was charged along with his then bodyguard, Adrian Snyman, although Mr Snyman was later acquitted.
Unfazed by the conviction, Mr Malema said, “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 further told the East London magistrate court in the Eastern Cape Province that the gun fired wasn’t his and shots fired were only intended to rouse the crowd.
He vowed to challenge the verdict even up to South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.
Mr Malema, a controversial figure in the South Africa political space, was convicted of hate speech less than two months ago against white minority in the country when he called for the seizure and transfer of white owned lands to the black majority in South Africa.
Back in May this year, during a visit by South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to the Whitehouse, US president Donald Trump accused South Africa of committing genocide against white Afrikaners in the country, after Mr Trump showed Mr Ramaphosa a video clip of the EFF leader chanting, “Kill the Boer (Afrikaner), Kill the farmer,” and making fiery comments about land occupation and white people
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