Economic Freedom Fighter leader Julius Malema has seemingly sent a message to his biggest haters – hinting at one former political party member – following his reckless firearm conviction sentence. He’s also praised the man who has kept him out of prison. The 45-year-old was sentenced to five years’ direct imprisonment over charges relating to contravening the Firearms Control Act.

He has applied for bail for leave to appeal the sentence. MALEMA PRAISES LAWYER AFTER SURPRISE BAIL BID On his X and Instagram accounts, Julius Malema set tongues wagging with a cryptic messages about his inner circle. He shared: “Sometimes we need hard days to know who is family, who is a friend, who is a partner, and who is a passenger in our lifetime” pic.twitter.com/yodqoG8NEh— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) April 18, 2026 In another post, Malema thanked his legal counsel, Advocate Laurance Hodes.

He captioned a picture of the man: “My Jewish brother forever this one. We are related by blood”. Adv Lawrance Hodes SC , my Jewish brother forever this one.

We are related by blood🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿 pic.twitter.com/A5VycVoC2B— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) April 18, 2026 On Thursday, the outspoken politician was sentenced to five years’ direct imprisonment relating to his conviction of five charges of contravening the Firearms Control Act. Despite the sentence, Malema avoided jail time after a party delegation applied for bail for him to appeal the sentence. As such, the sentence was suspended, and he was released on a court warning.

He will challenge the court’s sentence, and possibly his conviction, at a later date. FRIENDS TO FOES? Julius Malema’s message about loyalty led to much speculation on social media.

The EFF leader further set tongues wagging when he retweeted an X post that read: “Floyd [Shivambu] attack on EFF and Julius Malema, is crying out to the potential funders. They know that if you are anti EFF it is easy to be funded”. The tweet is referring to the former EFF deputy president, who jumped ship to the MK Party in 2024.

A year later, Floyd seemingly burned bridges at his new party, calling it a “family affair”. He has since started his own political party, the Afrika Mayibuye Movement.