South African opposition leader Julius Malema was found guilty Wednesday of breaking firearm laws in a 2018 incident where he was filmed firing a rifle at a political rally.
The fiery politician, who leads the opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, was charged with contravening the Firearms Control Act.
His then bodyguard Adriaan Snyman, who was alleged to have given Malema the rifle, was also charged but was found not guilty. Malema said this proved the magistrate was racist, because Snyman is white.
The video of Malema firing the weapon at his party’s five-year anniversary in the Eastern Cape province went viral in 2018. An Afrikaner lobby group, Afriforum, brought criminal charges against him.
In his defense, Malema claimed that the firearm in the video was a toy gun, but this was rejected by Magistrate Twanet Olivier.