South African opposition leader Julius Malema, 45, was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for illegally possessing a firearm and discharging the weapon in public.
Malema is the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a far-left opposition party that attracted global criticism for chanting “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” at its rallies.
South Africa’s dominant African National Congress (ANC) and its court system twisted themselves into pretzels to insist the EFF chant was not a call to violence or an example of hate speech, instead portraying it as some kind of metaphorical call to social justice and liberation.
For his part, Malema unhelpfully insisted that he and his party absolutely intended to loot South Africa’s white farmers of their property, as quickly as possible, and he continued to posture as a militant revolutionary. He added “Shoot to Kill!” to the foot-stomping chants at EFF rallies, in case anyone still missed his point.
Malema’s militant act finally caught up with him last year, when he was found guilty of illegally possessing and firing an automatic rifle during an EFF rally in 2018. Malema claimed he was merely firing the weapon in a burst of happy exuberance, earning a lecture from magistrate Twanet Olivier about his irresponsible behavior.
Malema’s party rejected his conviction, claiming it was “influenced by imperialist and right-wing agendas,” including the agenda of the “racist right-wing Donald Trump.” A small army of EFF supporters, clad in the party’s militaristic uniform of red overalls and red berets, massed in the street outside the courthouse as the sentence was read.
Prosecutors expressed disappointment with the outcome, as they wanted a more serious 15-year sentence to reflect the seriousness of the gun laws Malema violated, and the danger he posed to innocents by firing bullets in the air.
Malema is currently free pending an appeal to his conviction, and the BBC predicted it would be a long time before he saw the inside of a jail cell, if ever. Legal expert Ulrich Roux said that if Malema appeals all the way to South Africa’s highest court, as he has promised to do, “we’ll most likely get a final order within four to five years’ time.”
Meanwhile, Malema will retain his seat in the South African parliament. The law stipulates that persons who receive prison sentences of 12 months or longer cannot hold office, but they are not ejected from their seats until all appeals have been exhausted.
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