Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by Magistrate Twanet Olivier at the East London Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

The sentencing stems from an incident during the EFF’s fifth anniversary celebrations in Mdantsane in 2018, where Malema was filmed firing a rifle into the air before a crowd.

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Malema was convicted in 2025 on multiple charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a firearm in a built-up area, failure to take reasonable precautions, and reckless endangerment.

In handing down the sentence, Olivier said the court had carefully weighed both mitigating and aggravating factors presented by the defence and the State.

“The potential for mass injury or harm was real, foreseeable and scientifically established,” the magistrate said, noting that a semi-automatic rifle had been discharged in a densely

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