Firebrand South African politician Julius Malema was found guilty of violating the nation’s gun laws for firing a weapon at a political rally in 2018.
The East London Magistrate’s Court handed down its verdict on Wednesday. Another hearing will take place on 23 January before sentencing, said Magistrate Twanet Olivier, who extended Malema’s bail.
Adriaan Synman, Malema’s former bodyguard and a co-accused in the case, was acquitted.
Malema heads the Economic Freedom Fighters, which advocates for the expropriation of mines, banks and land, and is notorious for starting brawls in parliament.
It won 9.5% of the vote in last year’s election, making it the fourth-biggest party and giving it 39 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.

Malema will be disqualified from serving in the legislature if he is sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine and fails to have the judgment overturned.
He told supporters outside the courthouse he would appeal the case because the judgment was flawed, and described the charges as “nonsense” and racially motivated.
The process of appealing court judgments can take years to conclude.
The case stems from a video that went viral on social media and showed Malema appearing to fire shots into the air with what looked like an automatic rifle at an EFF rally in the town of Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape province in July 2018.
He denied wrongdoing, with his lawyer arguing that he used a toy gun and blank cartridges, rather than live ammunition — an argument the court rejected.
Malema has been in US President Donald Trump’s crosshairs for singing a song dating back to the apartheid era that calls for White Afrikaner farmers to be killed.
At a meeting with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House in May, Trump falsely alleged that the farmers were being subject to a genocide and questioned why no action had been taken against Malema over his inflammatory actions.
Afriforum, a White Afrikaner rights group that filed the case against Malema in 2018, welcomed the ruling — which saw Malema convicted on a total of five charges, including discharging a weapon in a built-up area and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
“The evidence overwhelmingly proved that Malema committed several serious offenses,” said Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s spokesperson for community safety.
“The verdict confirms that those who think they are untouchable will eventually be held accountable, no matter how long it takes.”