Julius Malema, the leader of South Africa's far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of illegally possessing and firing a firearm in public. Magistrate Twanet Olivier handed down the sentence on Thursday in KuGompo City — the Eastern Cape coastal city formerly known as East London — describing the 2018 incident as premeditated rather than impulsive. "It wasn't an impulsive act," the magistrate said. "It was the event of the evening."

The charges stemmed from a video that emerged showing Malema firing a semi-automatic rifle into the air during the EFF's fifth anniversary celebrations near the Eastern Cape city. He was convicted last October on five counts, including the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a weapon in a public space, and reckless endangerment. Malema had pleaded not guilty, arguing the firearm was not his and that the shots — which his lawyers described as celebratory — were intended to rouse the crowd. The prosecution, seeking the maximum 15-year sentence, argued the act was deliberate and dangerous.

Malema's lawyers applied for leave to appeal the sentence within minutes of it being read out, a move designed to prevent him from being immediately taken to prison. He has previously vowed to challenge any judgment all the way to South Africa's Constitutional Court, the country's highest judicial authority. Standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, the 45-year-old showed little emotion as the ruling was delivered. Outside the courthouse, hundreds of supporters dressed in the EFF's trademark red had gathered in anticipation of the verdict, with the party warning of protests should their leader be imprisoned.

The case was originally brought by AfriForum, a small but influential Afrikaner lobby group that has a long-running adversarial relationship with Malema and the EFF. AfriForum has also drawn international attention to its grievances, raising them in discussions with US President Donald Trump. Malema is separately known for leading the chant "Kill the Boer" — a reference to white Afrikaners — at political rallies, a practice that AfriForum calls incitement to violence, though South African courts have consistently ruled that the slogan should be understood in the historical context of resistance to apartheid, the system of white-minority rule that ended in 1994.

The sentence carries significant political consequences. Under South African law, a prison term of five years or more disqualifies an individual from serving as a member of parliament — a threshold this sentence precisely meets. Such an outcome would be a serious blow to the EFF, the fourth-largest party in South Africa's parliament, which draws strong support from young South Africans frustrated by the deep racial and economic inequalities that have persisted since the end of apartheid. Whether the sentence is ultimately enforced will depend on the outcome of what is expected to be a lengthy appeals process.