JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African opposition party leader, Julius Malema, was sentenced to five years imprisonment on Thursday, after he was convicted of breaking firearm laws by firing a rifle at a political rally in 2018.
Malema was convicted in October on five counts, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharge of a firearm in a built-up area and reckless endangerment.
The fiery lawmaker, who leads the leftist Economic
Freedom Fighters party, was charged alongside his bodyguards Anton Snyman, after the video of the incident went viral. Snyman was found not guilty.
Delivering the sentence, Magistrate Twanet Olivier said she considered the magnitude of the offense when she determined his sentence. “We hear daily, or weekly, of children playing in the front yards, in the street, who are caught in crossfire, random shots fired, killing people. It’s just the first time that we hear, it’s being called celebratory shots,” Olivier said.
During his trial and sentencing, Malema said that the charges against him were politically motivated as they were brought by Afriforum, a lobby group for the white Afrikaner minority group that has been at odds with Malema for years.
Olivier said the sentence and verdict was based solely on his actions on the day.
Malema, whose party is the fourth-biggest in the country, is a divisive figure, mainly because of his party policies, which include the expropriation of white-owned land without compensation and the nationalization of mines and banks.
He appeared in a video shown by U.S. President Donald Trump during a tense meeting with South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, where he was singing a controversial anti-apartheid song that has been interpreted by some as calling for violence against Afrikaners.
