South African opposition politician Julius Malema has been found guilty of illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public, offences which carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

In 2018, a video emerged showing the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader 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.

He was charged alongside his former bodyguard Adriaan Snyman, who was acquitted. 

Malema was convicted of hate speech less than two months ago and often lashes out at the white minority in a country where, 31 years after apartheid ended, racial tensions still run high.

He has called for the seizure of white-owned land and argues that more should be done to transfer wealth to the black majority.

Malema was convicted of five offences, including the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging it in a public space and reckless endangerment. These offences fall under the Firearms Control Act and carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

He was accused of firing between 14 and 15 live rounds on a stage in front of 20,000 EFF supporters, according to South African news site SowetanLIVE. 

In his defence, Malema told the court the firearm was not his and that he had fired the shots to rouse the crowd, the publication added.

It took three days for magistrate Twanet Olivier to tell Malema "you are found guilty as charged". The case was postponed to January 2026 for pre-sentencing.

Malema seemed unfazed by his conviction, telling supporters 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 said outside the East London regional court.

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

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

AfriForum was also among those who laid a hate speech complaint against the EFF MP at South Africa's Human Rights Commission.

This resulted in his conviction by the country's equality court in August this year.

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.

Malema's controversy extends beyond South Africa. 

US President Donald Trump showed a video of the radical leader during his heated meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House in May, using it as part of his "evidence" that genocide was being committed against white Afrikaners in South Africa - a claim that has been widely discredited.

White House staff played several clips of Malema chanting "Kill the Boer [Afrikaner], Kill the farmer" and making fiery comments about land occupation and white people.

A month later, Malema was denied entry to the UK over his support for Hamas and comments about white people in South Africa. The Home Office said he had been deemed "non-conducive to the public good".

Ian Cameron, from the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's second biggest party, welcomed the conviction, saying the matter was not just about Malema's conduct but also the "culture of chaos, violence and criminality that the leader of the EFF embodies and promotes". 

"A man who fires live rounds at a political rally demonstrates exactly the kind of thuggery the EFF is prepared to unleash on South Africa," Cameron, who is also an MP, said in a statement.

Legal expert Ulrich Roux told the BBC there was a "good chance" Malema could serve a prison sentence.

"He now needs to present evidence to the court to show why... he should not receive the minimum sentence of 15 years," he said.

In South Africa, anyone who has been handed a prison sentence longer than 12 months without the option of a fine cannot serve as an MP. The constitution however, only regards the sentence as final once the appeal process has been exhausted. This disqualification ends five years after the sentence has been completed.