South Africa’s leading opposition figure, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leader Julius Malema, has been sentenced to a five years imprisonment term after being found guilty of illegal gun possession and firing it in public.
Malema, was convicted last year of unlawful possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon in a public place over the 2018 incident at a stadium in the Eastern Cape Province.
The charges stem from an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema using a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots in the air during his party’s fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country’s Eastern Cape province.
However during the sentencing at in KuGompo City, South Africa Magistrate Twanet Olivier allowed the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and MP to appeal against the verdict and sentencing, meaning that he will not immediately be taken to prison.
During the hearing, Malema had pleaded not guilty, arguing the gun was a toy.
His lawyers applied for leave to appeal the magistrate’s decision within minutes of it being read out in a court.
EFF supporters, the fourth-biggest party in the South African parliament have threatened protests should their leader be jailed.
