South African opposition leader Julius Malema, 45, was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for illegally possessing a firearm and discharging the weapon in public.
Malema is the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a far-left opposition party that attracted global criticism for chanting “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” at its rallies.
South Africa’s dominant African National Congress (ANC) and its court system twisted themselves into pretzels to insist the EFF chant was not a call to violence or an example of hate speech, instead portraying it as some kind of metaphorical call to social justice and liberation.
For his part, Malema unhelpfully insisted that he and his party absolutely intended to loot South Africa’s white farmers of their property, as quickly as possible, and he continued to posture as a militant revolutionary. He added “Shoot to Kill!” to the foot-stomping chants at EFF rallies, in
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