'Everything was planned': State moves to sink Malema firearm appeal

Brandon Nel | Published 1 hour ago

Julius Malema had it all planned to perfection — right down to having a firearm transported from Gauteng all the way to the Eastern Cape so he could fire shots at a stadium packed with 20,000 people.

And the EFF leader knew exactly how to do it, having been taught to handle firearms by the ANC since the age of nine.

So said deputy director of public prosecutions Adv Joel Sesar in papers opposing Malema's bid to overturn his firearm convictions and escape a five-year prison sentence.

"His conduct to possess the firearm/s was not spontaneous, impulsive or accidental," he said in his affidavit seen by IOL .

"It was planned, intentional, deliberate and executed with precision."

Malema was sentenced by Magistrate Twanet Olivier in the KuGompo City Regional Court in April.

This after being convicted in October on five firearm-related counts.

The charges all stemmed from July 28 2018, when he fired shots into the air at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane during the EFF's fifth birthday celebrations.

He was sentenced to five years imprisonment on count one, two years on count two, and fines of R20,000 or six months imprisonment on each of the remaining three counts.

All sentences had been ordered to run concurrently, meaning he faces an effective five years behind bars.

The five counts included unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful discharge of a firearm in a built-up area.

It also included failure to take reasonable precautions to avoid danger to person or property, and reckless endangerment of a person or property.

His former co-accused, Adriaan Snyman was acquitted on the same day as Malema's conviction.

Olivier said the state could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Snyman had handed the rifle to Malema, and the weapon was returned to Snyman following his acquittal.

After sentencing, Malema applied for leave to appeal against both his convictions and his sentences.

Olivier already granted leave to appeal against the sentences but refused it on the convictions.

Malema then took his fight to the Makhanda High Court, filing a petition in May asking the Judge President to grant him leave to appeal his convictions, the very relief Olivier had denied him.

The state filed its opposing affidavit on May 22 2026, with Sesar deposing to it.

The matter before the court is therefore solely whether Malema should be granted leave to appeal his convictions.

His appeal against sentence will be heard separately.

In his affidavit, Sesar was emphatic that Malema acted with full deliberation and intent, and wasted no time saying so.

"Everything was perfect and calculated and designed to be the way it was done," he said.

Sesar pointed to Malema's own testimony about his familiarity with firearms to further undermine the defence case.

"He testified that he was trained by the ANC how to use firearms as part of the arms struggle since the age of nine," he said.

"He knows firearms and owns a 9mm Taurus handgun that is being kept in a safe at his home."

Sesar also said Malema confirmed in his own evidence that the decision to fire shots at the event had been planned well in advance, and that a firearm was transported from Gauteng to KuGompo City for that specific purpose.

He further argued Malema's decision to walk to the far right end of the stage before firing — away from the crowd — was itself a damning indicator that he knew he was handling real firearms.

The EFF had contracted production company Gearhouse, based in Durban, to record the birthday celebrations on video cameras.

It is that footage, along with a separate viral video clip recorded on a cellphone by an unknown person on the stage, that formed the backbone of the state's case.

The Gearhouse footage showed Malema, between 8pm and 9pm, walking to the far right end of the stage and discharging 15 shots from a 9mm handgun.

He then picked up an assault rifle and fired a further seven shots before returning the rifle and rejoining those on the stage.

A third clip, recorded on a cellphone by an unknown person who was on the stage, also depicted him firing seven shots with the assault rifle and went viral on social media.

Two days after the celebrations, municipal cleaner named Ntombifikile Mankomo found a spent cartridge case lying on the grass on the right side of the stadium, a few metres from where the EFF stage had been erected.

She handed it to her supervisor and it eventually made its way to the police, where it was sealed in an evidence bag.

Ballistics expert Colonel Mandisi Mgwadleka subsequently conducted microscopic examinations and positively linked the spent cartridge case to a .223 Norinco semi-automatic rifle with serial number SPA 249-14.

Snyman's company Tactical Security's own firearm register recorded that this rifle had been booked out to Larry Mavundla — a bodyguard employed at the company — on the day of the incident.

Malema's defence was that he used a toy gun and not a…