Julius Malema granted leave to appeal 5-year firearm convictions

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has been granted leave to appeal his conviction. In October last year, the KuGompo Magistrate’s Court found Malema guilty of contravening the Firearms Control Act.

In April, magistrate Twanet Olivier sentenced him to an effective five years’ direct imprisonment. Malema was previously granted leave to appeal against his sentence, but not his conviction, following a ruling by Olivier in connection with a 2018 incident in which he was filmed firing a rifle into the air during the party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape.