South African opposition leader Julius Malema has been handed a five-year prison sentence after a court found him guilty of unlawfully possessing a firearm and discharging it in a public setting. The conviction stems from multiple charges brought last year, including illegal possession of a gun and ammunition, firing a weapon in public, and endangering others through reckless conduct. His case relates to a 2018 incident in which footage surfaced showing Malema firing several rounds from a semi-automatic rifle into the air during his party’s fifth anniversary event in the Eastern Cape. The court read the verdict on Thursday, April 16 morning. His legal team indicated plans to challenge the ruling, aiming to prevent the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from serving jail time. The sentence also raises the possibility of him losing his seat in parliament. In court, Malema argued that the firearm did not belong to him and claimed he fired the shots merely to rouse the crowd.
