Julius Malema, the leader of a left-wing political party in South Africa who has become a focal point of President Donald Trump’s criticism of the country, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for firing a rifle at a rally in 2018.
Malema, head of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, was released pending appeal. If the verdict is upheld, his political career could be thrown into jeopardy: South African law bars anyone sentenced to more than a year in prison from serving in Parliament.
The EFF, the fourth-largest party in Parliament, said the conviction was political, with “clear intentions to criminalize a revolutionary political voice that represents the aspirations of the oppressed and marginalized.”
A court date for the appeal has not yet been set.
The case was filed by AfriForum, a far-right Afrikaner lobby group, after footage of the incident went viral. The group, which describes itself as a civil rights organization that advocates for minority Afrikaners — of White, European descent.
Complaints about Malema’s incendiary public appearances, by AfriForum and others, have become a major talking point on the U.S. right, including for billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, and for Trump — who has amplified false claims that White Afrikaners have been victims of a genocide.
Trump stopped all aid to South Africa in February 2025 over such concerns. His administration ground U.S. refugee admissions to a halt but made an exception for White South Africans.
Land remains a contentious issue in South Africa, where apartheid laws for decades prohibited Black South Africans from holding large tracts of land. Even as the minority apartheid government fell and Nelson Mandela was elected the country’s first Black president in 1994, stark economic disparities persisted. A land audit in 2017 found that White South Africans constitute less than 10 percent of the population but held the vast majority of land.
Malema, known for radical rhetoric, has advocated for the seizure of White-owned land, which his party says was largely stolen from Black South Africans during the colonial and apartheid eras. At a contentious White House meetingbetween Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, Trump played a video that included a clip from one of Malema’s rallies.
In the video, Malema says that at some point there must be “killing,” as an act of “revolution.” He also leads a massive crowd in a popular apartheid-era song that includes the lyrics: “Kill the Boer, the farmer,” a reference to White landowners.
Defenders of the song say it is symbolic and rooted in the decades-long struggle against apartheid. A Johannesburg high court ruled that the chant did not constitute hate speech.
“Why wouldn’t you arrest that man?” Trump asked Ramaphosa, who responded that his government was “completely, completely against what [Malema] was saying.”
Malema has referred to the gun that he fired in the incident that led to his trial and conviction as a “cinema toy” that he used to demonstrate the act of shooting.
The EEF commands about 10 percent of seats in Parliament. It was formed in 2013 after Malema was expelled from the African National Congress, the ruling party since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Malema and the EFF have called for economic liberation for Black South Africans by way of nationalization of the country’s mines and banks and for the expropriation without compensationof farmlands owned by White South Africans.
The party draws much of its support from South Africa’s youths, more than 60 percent of whom are unemployed. Massive economic disparities between White and Black populations remain.
In his militant, unfiltered speeches, Malema has slammed the perceived weakness of mainstream politicians embroiled in corruptionand accused the government of not doing enough to solve the country’s economic issues.
On Thursday, Malema’s supporters thronged the courtroom, with hundreds gathered outside the building, dressed in red overalls and caps, just as at his stadium rallies, chanting and singing.
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