JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -A South African court on Wednesday found militant opposition leader Julius Malema guilty of firing an assault rifle in public in 2018, a ruling that could see him barred from parliament.
The leader of far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the second largest opposition party, fired the gun into the air during the party's fifth birthday celebration in Eastern Cape province, in violation of the Firearms Control Act.
Malema, who has served as a member of parliament for over 10 years, would be ineligible to continue in the role if sentenced to more than a year, as per the constitution.
He had pleaded not guilty, arguing that the gun was a toy.
Magistrate Twanet Olivier after three days of judgement proceedings said Malema was guilty of the unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm in a built-up area or public place and reckless endangerment of people or property.
His bodyguard, Adriaan Snyman, accused of giving him the gun, was acquitted.
The judge said a pre-sentencing report would be issued on January 23.
"This proves that this was a witch hunt to target the president of the EFF and find him guilty no matter how irrational it may be," Malema's party said in a statement.
His theatrics have long angered the white upper-middle class South Africans that he frequently rails against.
His refusal to stop singing "Kill the Boer (farmer)" - an apartheid-era resistance song - has been interpreted in far-right chat rooms as a call to murder white South African farmers, who own most of the land due to a history of seizures by white minority rulers.
U.S. President Donald Trump called for Malema to be arrested during a meeting with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House.
(Reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa;Additional reporting by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Tim Cocks and Ed Osmond)
