The EFF has accused AfriForum of being “opportunistic” for laying charges against party leader Julius Malema for having an illegal firearm and ammunition.

Malema “fired” into the air on stage during the party’s fifth birthday bash at the weekend to evoke a sense of “celebration and memory of our struggle during colonial and apartheid times”‚ EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was quoted as saying by SABC News  on Wednesday.

Ndlozi reiterated claims by the red berets that Malema did not fire a real gun or bullets: “It was emulation as part of the celebrations of the EFF that was also coordinated with fireworks.”

Four firearms experts canvassed by Times Select  however said any suggestion that the commander-in-chief was firing blanks was “hogwash”. They criticised the police for not arresting and charging both Malema and the gun owner.

One of the firearms experts said that Malema had broken numerous sections of the Firearms Control Act: "With the high level of gun deaths in South Africa‚ what Malema has done is an incredibly serious and stupid thing.”

AfriForum filed criminal charges on Wednesday against Malema over the incident while Malema told TimesLIVE‚ “It’s not a firearm and no real bullets were shot. It was a simulation‚ part of our entire act of celebrating the fifth anniversary.”

“AfriForum is obviously being opportunistic in this case because it is very clear as a bunch of Ku Klux Klan‚ they have made the commander in chief of the EFF and the EFF their agenda‚” Ndlozi told the SABC.

“They led a march called Black Monday in which real guns were displayed and in some instances fired. It is important to ask them whether they have also in that case opened cases against those people if they so care about public law‚” he added.