Julius Malema showed little emotion as he received news of the sentence

South African opposition politician Julius Malema, 45, has been sentenced to five years after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public.

Malema's lawyer immediately appealed against the decision to prevent the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and member of parliament from being taken to prison.

Standing in the East London court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as Magistrate Twanet Olivier read out the sentence.

Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including the unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging it in a public space and reckless endangerment.

The charges related to an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema using a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots in the air during his party's fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country's Eastern Cape province.

In his defence, Malema told the court the firearm was not his and that he had fired the shots to rouse the crowd, South African news site SowetanLIVE reported at the time.

But during her sentencing ruling Olivier said "it wasn't... an impulsive act. It was the event of the evening," the AFP news agency reports.

Malema has a long reputation as being an outspoken, charismatic and radical left-wing politician and has a loyal band of supporters.

Hundreds gathered outside the court, backing Malema with chants and singing revolutionary songs.

Malema was once the leader of the youth wing of the governing African National Congress. But after being expelled from the party, following a falling-out with then President Jacob Zuma, he went on to form the EFF.

With Malema's calls for the seizure of white-owned land and arguments that more should be done to transfer wealth to the black majority, the EFF ate away at the ANC share of the vote. It became the country's fourth largest party at the 2024 elections.

After being found guilty last October, Malema was quoted as telling those outside the court in East London that "going to prison or death is a badge of honour".

"We cannot be scared of prison [or] to die for the revolution. Whatever they want to do, they must know we will never retreat."

He also vowed to take a challenge to the judgment up to South Africa's highest court, the Constitutional Court.

Malema's prosecution came when Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a contentious relationship with him and the EFF, opened a case against Malema after the video went viral.

AfriForum also had a role in another conviction against the politician.

Last August, he was found guilty of hate speech by the equality court, following remarks he made at a rally in 2022.

After an incident where a white man allegedly assaulted an EFF member, Malema said: "No white man is going to beat me up... you must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing."

The equality court ruled that these remarks "demonstrated an intent to incite harm", but the EFF said they were taken out of context. (BBC)

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