By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
South African opposition leader Julius Malema was on Wednesday convicted of violating firearm laws over a 2018 incident in which he was filmed firing a rifle at a political rally.
The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) was found guilty of contravening the Firearms Control Act after a video of him discharging the weapon during his party’s fifth anniversary celebration in Eastern Cape went viral.
His former bodyguard, Adriaan Snyman, accused of handing him the rifle, was acquitted. Malema claimed this proved racial bias, arguing that Snyman’s acquittal was because “he is white”.
The case was initiated by Afriforum, an Afrikaner lobby group, after the footage emerged. Malema had defended himself by insisting the gun was a toy, but Magistrate Twanet Olivier dismissed that claim.
Speaking to supporters outside the East London Magistrates Court, Malema vowed to appeal the ruling “all the way to the Constitutional Court”.
The firebrand politician, who could face up to 15 years behind bars, is due to be sentenced on January 23, 2026. There is no minimum penalty under the Act, leaving room for a lighter sentence.
Malema, who founded the EFF in 2013, has remained a polarising figure in South African politics with radical policies such as the expropriation of white-owned land without compensation and the nationalisation of mines and banks.
His high-profile conviction comes months after he was found guilty of hate speech and banned from the UK over his support for Hamas and violent rhetoric.
