WATCH | NPA says Malema sentence is fair, defence team eyes high court battle

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says the sentence handed down to EFF leader Julius Malema is fair, but his legal team is confident another court will come to a different conclusion.

Leave to appeal against the five-year sentence was granted but not against the guilty verdict.

On Thursday in the magistrate’s court in KuGompo City, magistrate Twanet Olivier dismissed the application that was brought minutes after Malema was sentenced to five years.

Malema’s legal team had argued that the court erred in arriving at the conclusion to find Malema guilty of the five charges related to discharging a firearm at the party’s birthday celebrations in 2018.

They argued that the state had failed to prove its case.

Advocate Laurance Hodes SC argued that Malema was a first offender and had not committed any offences during the trial.

In relation to the sentence, Hodes said there was no need for the court to sentence Malema for each of the counts.

Hodes argued that Malema should not have been sentenced to a custodial sentence, adding that there was no precedent for such a case.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi also argued that the state failed to show why they opposed the application for leave to appeal against both the conviction and the sentence.

Ngcukaitobi said they believed the high court would find differently in both regards.

The EFF’s Leigh-Ann Mathys confirmed they would be appealing against both decisions of Olivier.

“We are glad the state came to its mind about the issue of bail,” Mathys said as Malema remains out on warning pending petitions to the high court.

Meanwhile, NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said they were satisfied with the sentence.

Tyali said it was within Malema’s rights to appeal against the decisions.

“We feel strongly as NPA that we proved he is guilty, which is why the court found him guilty. We feel the sentence is also fair,” Tyali said.

Daily Dispatch