While the defence’s pre-sentencing report pushes for a non-custodial sentence, the State seems intent to throw the book at EFF leader Julius Malema, asking for a lengthy term of imprisonment for illegally firing a weapon at an EFF birthday celebration in 2018. Julius Malema, and the rest of South Africa, will have to wait three more months to hear whether the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) leader will face jail time for firing an assault rifle into the air more than six years ago. Malema spent most of Friday, 23 January, in the dock at the East London Magistrates’ Court for the continuation of his case, while his legal counsel, the prosecution and Magistrate Twanet Olivier dissected a pre-sentencing report presented before court.
Meanwhile, a throng of EFF members gathered outside the court building, eagerly waiting for their leader to address them from the temporary stage erected on the corner of Buffalo Street. “F*ck off AfriForum! F*ck off Donald Trump!” some of the crowd chanted while court proceedings were drawing to a close.
Malema faces a potential 15 years behind bars after he was convicted last year of unlawful possession of a firearm‚ unlawful possession of ammunition‚ discharging a firearm in a built-up area or public place and reckless endangerment of people or property. The charges relate to his firing several shots into the air during the EFF’s fifth birthday celebrations at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, in 2018. Friday’s proceedings started with a series of disruptions as the regional courtroom set aside for the matter was too small to accommodate various media outlets and a select group of Malema supporters in the public gallery.
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The case was moved to a significantly larger high court courtroom in the same building, but it was still bursting at the seams. As the crowd waited to enter the new venue, arguments started over allowing members from AfriForum, including chief spokesperson Jacques Broodryk, into the courtroom, with several EFF members threatening to throw them out to make space for more Malema supporters. However, senior party members addressed the issue with their members and the AfriForum members were allowed entry without further debate.
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