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Malema
Julius Sello Malema (born 3 March 1981) is a South African politician. He is the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a communist and black nationalist political party since 2013. Before founding the EFF, he served as president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) from 2008 until his expulsion from the party in 2012.
As a child, Malema joined the ANC and was a highly engaged member while growing up; he was ultimately elected president of its Youth League in April 2008 under controversial circumstances. While president, he was an early proponent of nationalising South Africa's mining industry and expropriating land without compensation. He rose to national prominence as an outspoken supporter of Jacob Zuma, then ANC president and later President of South Africa.
However, Malema's relationship with Zuma became severely strained following numerous disciplinary deliberations against him by the ANC. By 2012, he was campaigning for Zuma to be removed from office ahead of the ANC's 53rd National Conference. In April of that year, months before the conference was due to take place, Malema was expelled from the ANC for bringing the party into disrepute. The following year, he founded the EFF and was elected to the National Assembly in 2014, where the party won 25 seats.
Malema has been embroiled in a variety of legal issues throughout his political career. In March 2010, he was convicted of hate speech for demeaning comments about Zuma's rape accuser. In 2012, he was charged with fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. After numerous postponements, the case was dismissed by the courts in 2015 due to repeated delays by the National Prosecuting Authority.
In 2022, Malema gave a speech against a white man who had attacked EFF members. As a consequence of that speech, in 2025, Malema was convicted of hate speech for, according to the court, "calling for [racists] to be killed". He has applied for an appeal to a higher court.
On 1 October 2025, Malema was convicted of five offences, including the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, illegally firing a weapon in public, and reckless endangerment. The offences related to an EFF rally at which Malema fired between 14 and 15 live rounds on a stage, in front of approximately 20,000 supporters. In April 2026, he was sentenced to five years in prison for these convictions. Under the Constitution of South Africa, anyone who receives a sentence of 12 months or more without the option of a fine, and who does not have the judgement overturned on appeal, is barred from serving as a Member of Parliament for five years.
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