A South African opposition leader, Julius Malema, was convicted on Wednesday for violating gun laws during a 2018 event in which he was captured shooting a rifle at a political gathering.
The leader of the opposition party, Economic Freedom Fighters, faced charges for violating the Firearms Control Act.
The then bodyguard of his, Adriaan Snyman, who was accused of providing Malema with the rifle, faced charges but was ultimately acquitted. Malema claimed this demonstrated that the magistrate was racist, as Snyman is white.
A video showing Malema using a weapon during his party’s fifth anniversary in the Eastern Cape province became widely shared online in 2018. An Afrikaner advocacy group, Afriforum, filed criminal charges against him.
In his defense, Malema stated that the gun shown in the video was a toy, but Magistrate Twanet Olivier did not accept this explanation.
Malema informed his followers outside the East London Magistrates Court that he plans to challenge the ruling up to the Constitutional Court.
Malema might be sentenced to as many as 15 years in prison, although there is no mandatory minimum term, which could lead the magistrate to impose a more forgiving punishment.
His trial date has been scheduled for January 23 of the following year.
Malema established the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa’s fourth-largest political party, which secured 9% of the votes in the recent general elections.
He continues to be a controversial figure in South African politics, particularly regarding his party’s policies, which involve the seizure of white-owned land without payment and the takeover of mines and banks by the state.
He was featured in a video presented by U.S. President Donald Trump during a heated discussion with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa this year. Trump has incorrectly asserted that a “white genocide” is taking place in South Africa.
