Juju sentencing a test for SA law

The EFF has been mobilising its “ground forces” to protest outside the East London magistrate’s court today when its leader, Julius Malema, will hear his fate after being convicted of illegal discharging a firearm in public - an offence which could carry a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

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The sight of hundreds, if not thousands, of red berets would, obviously, be an intimidation tactic and one wonders whether Malema’s organisation has the same sort of influence Jacob Zuma’s friends had when they mobilised a large chunk of KwaZulu-Natal into an insurrection after Zuma was jailed for contempt of court.

A lot is at stake, both for Malema personally and for his organisation as a whole.