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Julius Malema (born March 3, 1981) is a South African politician. He has been the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a communist and black nationalist political party, since 2013. Before the formation of the EFF, he served as president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) from 2008 until his expulsion in 2012.

Malema joined the ANC as a child and was an active member throughout his childhood; he was eventually elected president of the organization’s Youth League in April 2008, under dubious circumstances.

While president, he was an early supporter of nationalising South Africa’s mining industry and expropriating land without compensation. He gained national fame as an outspoken supporter of Jacob Zuma, the then-ANC president who subsequently became President of South Africa.

Malema was convicted of five offences on October 1, 2025, including illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition, shooting a weapon in public, and reckless endangerment.

The charges stemmed from an EFF demonstration in which Malema shot 14 to 15 live rounds on stage in front of 20,000 supporters. Malema was sentenced to 5 years in prison after being found guilty.

Julius Malema Biography

Julius Sello Malema was born on March 3, 1981, in the township of Seshego near Polokwane, Transvaal, in what is now Limpopo. His family is from Northern Sotho, and his mother was a domestic servant and single mom. After his mother died, he was raised by his grandma, who died in May of 2019.

Malema completed his education at Mohlakaneng High School in Seshego. In 2010, he earned a two-year diploma in youth development from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He also graduated from UNISA with a Bachelor of Arts in communications and African languages in March 2016 and an Honours degree in philosophy in 2017. In 2018, he enrolled in a master’s study at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Career

By 2008, Malema was the provincial secretary of the ANC Youth League’s Limpopo branch and a prominent candidate for head of the national league. His candidature was supported by outgoing league president Fikile Mbalula, while outgoing league secretary-general Sihle Zikalala supported the more moderate candidate, Saki Mofokeng.

Malema was elected president of the ANC Youth League during the league’s 23rd National Conference in Bloemfontein in April 2008, following an unusually heated campaign and a chaotic plenary session.

He earned 1,833 votes to Mofokeng’s 1,696 votes and was elected with a slate of friends, including Andile Lungisa as deputy president..

The conclusion of the vote was quickly challenged, notably by conference delegates who alleged that intimidation had prevented them from voting. The conference descended into chaos, with some participants throwing chairs, and adjourned without completing its agenda.

Malema later denounced the “unbecoming conduct” of conference delegates. Following an intervention by the mainstream ANC, the league convened a special closed congress in Johannesburg in June.

On the recommendation of ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, Mofokeng consented to confirm the results of the April election.

Malema was nominated for candidacy as a Member of Parliament ahead of the 2009 general election but declined, claiming that Parliament was “for old people”. Nevertheless, he actively campaigned for the ANC and Zuma, the party’s presidential candidate, throughout the election.

In April 2009, for example, he and the rest of a league delegation were asked to leave Port Elizabeth’s Dora Nginza Hospital, where they had been campaigning for support in the wards.

Following the election, Malema initiated a school-visitation campaign in an apparent attempt to reach out to the country’s youth. Kgalema Motlanthe, the then-ANC deputy president and Deputy President of South Africa, condemned the visits as disturbing to the students’ schooling.

Although Malema remained Zuma’s ally in the months following his victory as President of South Africa in May 2009, they had a public falling out by the middle of 2010. Malema later said that he turned against Zuma after he discovered Zuma was incapable of carrying out the left-wing policy program that had gained his victory as ANC president in 2007.

According to Malema, Zuma only took a harder approach toward the league when it rejected him. According to another interpretation, Zuma changed his stance toward Malema and the league in 2010 – most notably by initiating disciplinary proceedings against Malema – because he realised Malema’s outspoken militancy was a political liability or threat to him.

As Malema’s first term as president concluded, many expected him to face a serious challenge to his re-election attempt, most likely from his deputy Andile Lungisa.

The convention in Malema’s native province of Limpopo turned violent, with Malema reportedly ordering police to remove his competitors and media from the premises.

Nonetheless, at the Youth League’s national elective meeting in Midrand on June 17, 2011, Malema was re-elected as league president. He ran unopposed since his presumed opponent, Lebogang Maile, declined a nomination to run against him. Ronald Lamola succeeded Lungisa as the league’s deputy president.

Following his expulsion from the ANC, Malema was a major critic of the government’s conduct during the August 2012 Marikana massacre.

Malema began canvassing for his political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, in June 2013. South African President Jacob Zuma indicated during a meeting with the SA National Editors’ Forum that the ruling party does not consider this development a threat.

While still on trial for money laundering and racketeering, Malema began soliciting funding for his new political organization.

The EFF won 25 seats in the National Assembly, South Africa’s lower house of parliament, in the 2014 general election, less than a year after its formation. Malema initially threatened to dispute the election results in court, but eventually accepted them – though he continued to assert in 2016 that the ANC stole the Gauteng election.

He was sworn in as a member of the National Assembly on May 21, 2014. He was reelected to the seat in the 2019 general election and has served on many portfolio committees.

Controversy and Arrest

Malema addressed a student assembly at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in January 2009 that Khwezi, the lady who accused Jacob Zuma of rape in 2005 (and was acquitted), “had a nice time” with Zuma since she stayed in the morning to beg for “breakfast and taxi money”.

Sonke Gender Justice, a non-profit organisation, filed a complaint in South Africa’s Equality Court, and Malema was convicted of hate speech on March 15, 2010. He was ordered to make an unqualified apology and pay an R50,000 fine to a center for battered women.

On August 27, 2025, the Equality Court judged Malema guilty of hate speech for remarks made in 2022. The court decided that Malema’s words, which included calls for the murder of a white man, were “a clear attempt to promote hatred”.

Malema was found guilty of various crimes by the East London Magistrates’ Court on October 1, 2025, following a 2018 incident in which he discharged a pistol during a rally at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape.

Under the Firearms Control Act, he was found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a firearm in a crowded or public place, and reckless endangerment. On April 16, 2026, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was granted leave to appeal and remains free until the outcome of subsequent judicial actions.

Julius Malema Wife

Malema married his long-term fiancée in a private ceremony under high security in his hometown of Seshego in 2014. Munzhedzi is their first son, born in 2016. Their second son, Kopano, was born in 2018. Malema also has a son, Ratanang, from his former relationship with Maropeng Ramohlale.

Julius Malema Net Worth

Julius Malema’s net worth is predicted to be over R45 million (roughly $2.5 million USD) by 2025.

Social Media

X: @Julius_S_Malema