A South African court sentenced radical left-wing opposition leader Julius Malema to five years in jail on Thursday for firing an assault rifle at a rally eight years ago.
He was convicted last year on five charges, including 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.
Malema’s lawyers applied for leave to appeal the magistrate’s decision within minutes of it being read out in a court in KuGompo City, formerly East London.
The sentence, if confirmed after all appeals, would bar Malema from serving as a lawmaker.
That would be a major setback for Malema’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which has strong support among young South Africans frustrated by the racial inequality that has persisted since the end of white minority rule in 1994. Malema, 45, is one of South Africa’s most prominent politicians.
