He is the founder and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a left-wing populist[1] political party known for the red berets and military-style outfits worn by its members.

As a child, Malema joined the ANC and was a highly engaged member growing up; he was ultimately elected president of its Youth League in April 2008 under controversial circumstances.

Malema has been embroiled in a variety of legal issues throughout his political career: he has been convicted of hate speech twice, once in March 2010 for demeaning comments about Zuma's rape accuser, and again in September 2011 for singing "Dubul' ibhunu" ("Shoot the Boer").

[7] After numerous postponements,[8][9] the case was dismissed by the courts in 2015 due to repeated delays by the National Prosecuting Authority, leading to perceptions that the charges were politically motivated.

[45] City Press reported that ANC officials had asked the Youth League to postpone its trip, though Malema told the media that Zuma had personally endorsed it.

[55][56] The following day, Malema said that he was "not remorseful", describing Fisher as "disrespectful" and the United Kingdom as a country "whose media always undermine the credibility and integrity of African leaders".

[63] Most of the charges against him were withdrawn, but he was formally found guilty, in relation to his public attack on Zuma, for having provoked division within the ANC in contravention of the party's constitution.

Under the terms of the plea bargain, the National Disciplinary Committee ruled that Malema's ANC membership would be summarily suspended if he was found guilty of repeating this offence within the next two years.

[64][65] He also defended Athletics South Africa (ASA) president Leonard Chuene, who had allowed Semenya to compete at the championships even after being informed that a gender test had identified her as an intersex person.

[80] As the end of Malema's first term in the presidency approached, observers expected him to face a strong challenge to his re-election bid, probably from his deputy Andile Lungisa.

[88] On 31 July 2011, at a briefing following a Boksburg meeting of the ANC Youth League's National Executive Committee, Malema made a series of controversial comments about the political situation in neighbouring Botswana.

[89][90] Malema and the Youth League withdrew the statement about Botswana a fortnight later, but the Independent Online reported that his comments had "finally snapped the patience of the party's elders".

[95] Hanekom said that Malema's remarks had been "reckless and baseless" and had "damaged the standing of the ANC and South Africa's international reputation",[96] though he was found not guilty on separate charges of racism and inciting hatred.

[102] Visiting the scene of the shootings, he called for Zuma's resignation and the establishment of a commission of inquiry;[103][104] Al Jazeera wondered whether the controversy over Marikana would help resurrect his political career.

In the 2014 general election, less than a year after the party's launch, the EFF won 25 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African Parliament.

In June 2014, he was ejected from the State of the Nation debate after he refused to withdraw a statement to the effect that the ANC government had murdered mineworkers during the Marikana massacre.

[120] In September 2015, he was forcibly removed from the house by the sergeant-at-arms, and subsequently suspended for five days, after refusing to retract the accusation that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was a "murderer" because of his actions during the Marikana massacre.

[124] Claiming it was "absolute rubbish to say there's white genocide", Malema said that "South Africans would not be intimidated by Mr Trump" and that the US President's intervention into their domestic land rights issues "only made them more determined".

[128] The South African Jewish Board of Deputies subsequently issued a statement denouncing Malema, calling his comments "typical of his attention-seeking behaviour" and "aimed at creating racial tension".

[141][142] Eyewitness News reported that party leader Julius Malema's family residence in Hyde Park, Johannesburg was owned by and located next door to controversial[143][144] cigarette businessman and Carnilinx company executive Adriano Mazzotti.

[145][146] The article also stated that Mazzotti donated R200,000 to the EFF for the party's electoral registration for the 2019 election and that fellow Carnilinx executive Kyle Phillips gave a R1 million loan to Malema.

[155][156][157][158][159][160] Some analysts suggest this is also known as being a tenderpreneur, which is the early emergence of a form of kleptocracy, or predatory behaviour by a clique in the ruling elite, to generate personal wealth by capturing resources.

[166][167] In response, a large group of political journalists complained[168] to various authorities within the ANC and to the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) stating that they viewed the release as an attempt to intimidate them into not publishing further stories, and as a threat to media freedom.

[179] On 26 September 2012, Malema was charged with money laundering, relating to his awarding of lucrative government contracts in Limpopo in return for an alleged R4 million in kickbacks.

[182] In February 2013, it was reported that Malema's property would be auctioned off to pay a R16.1 million debt he owed the South African Revenue Service, after he failed to meet payment deadlines for unpaid taxes.

[185] Non-profit organisation Sonke Gender Justice filed a complaint in the Equality Court of South Africa and, on 15 March 2010, Malema was convicted of hate speech.

[188] The song had been popularised by ANC Youth League activist Peter Mokaba in the 1990s[188] and the South African Human Rights Commission had denounced it as hate speech in 2007.

[192] In the following week, in the aftermath of Eugène Terre'Blanche's murder on 3 April, the ANC instructed its members to be "circumspect" in singing the song in the near future, out of wariness that the party might be scapegoated by the white right-wing.

[216] Writing in the Sowetan, Andile Mngxitama described Malema as "an opportunist who raised these issues [nationalisation, land reform etc], not to solve them, but to trick the poor who have been waiting for a better life for all for almost 20 years now under your party's rule ...

Instead of leading the new struggle as a selfless leader of the poor, you only pay lip service to the plight of our people while you amass great amounts of wealth through your political influence.