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WATCH | Mpumalanga police fire rubber bullets at EFF members after Malema sentencing

Dailydispatch · · 175 words · By Mandla Khoza
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What to know about WATCH

Mpumalanga police had to use rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas to stop members of the EFF blocking the N4 highway after their leader, Julius Malema, was handed a five-year jail sentence on Thursday for discharging a firearm in public.

Claims checked 8
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Mpumalanga police had to use rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas to stop members of the EFF blocking the N4 highway after their leader, Julius Malema, was handed a five-year jail sentence on Thursday for discharging a firearm in public.

Why it matters

The EFF supporters had been watching the court proceedings, in KuGompu City, on a large screen mounted outside the Mpumalanga High Court.

Common ground

After the sentence was announced, Mpumalanga party chairperson Collen Sedibe addressed the gathering.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailydispatch.co.za/news/2026-04-16-watch-rubber-bullets-for-eff-mem…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 4
check_circle Corroborated 4
info
Claim 1: “Injured EFF members were rushed to a nearby clinic”
SINGLE SOURCE
Only one source explicitly states that injured EFF members were rushed to a nearby clinic in the context of this specific event. Other results refer to different injuries (bus crash, journalist harassment).
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web search NEUTRAL — At least 30 other passengers were injured. EFF president Julius Malema greeted family members who lost relatives during the horrific bus crash which killed EFF members. Julius Malema was in Vryheid.
https://briefly.co.za/south-africa/218482-julius-malema-atte…
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web search NEUTRAL — eNCA reporter, Nobesuthu Hejana was earlier manhandled by some EFF protesters while covering the party's nationwide protest at Clicks' outlets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEQ9Jm1Qio
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web search NEUTRAL — Injured EFF members were rushed to a nearby clinic. The crowd eventually returned to the court screen to watch Malema make an address to the cameras and his supporters in KuGompu City.
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-04-16-wat…
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Claim 2: “Mpumalanga police had to use rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas to stop members of the EFF blocking the N4 highway”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that Mpumalanga police used rubber bullets, teargas, and stun grenades to disperse EFF members blocking the N4 highway.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga police deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse EFF supporters attempting to block the N4 in Mbombela. 5 hours ago.
https://www.citizen.co.za/lowvelder/news-headlines/local-new…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga EFF Chairperson Collen Sedibe has responded to the judgement of EFF CIC, Julius Malema.
https://www.tiktok.com/@officiallokuhlefm/video/762933787484…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga police use rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades to disperse EFF members blocking the N4 highway after Julius Malema's sentencing.
https://www.businessday.co.za/news/2026-04-16-watch-rubber-b…
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Claim 3: “their leader, Julius Malema, was handed a five-year jail sentence on Thursday for discharging a firearm in public”
CORROBORATED
Two independent high-authority news sources (Daily Maverick and BBC News) confirm Julius Malema was sentenced to five years in prison for discharging a firearm in public.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Julius Malema has received a five-year prison sentence for unlawfully discharging a firearm at a 2018 public gathering
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-04-17-hill-lewi…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Julius Malema, has been given a five-year prison term for unlawfully possessing a firearm and firing it in public
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxkd6rvk0do?at_medium=RSS…
info
Claim 4: “The EFF supporters had been watching the court proceedings, in KuGompu City, on a large screen mounted outside the Mpumalanga High Court”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web search results for this claim are irrelevant (referring to the Electronic Frontier Foundation in the US) and do not confirm the event in KuGompu City. Only the original claim's context suggests this, but the evidence provided does not support it.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation
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web search NEUTRAL — Defending your rights in the digital world Last week, Instagram ended its opt-in, and therefore rarely used, end-to-end encryption feature. Years after publicly promising to provide the privacy protec…
https://www.eff.org/
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 15, 2026 · Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), nonprofit organization established to raise funds for lobbying, litigation, and education about civil liberties on the Internet. The Electronic Fro…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Electronic-Frontier-Foundat…
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Claim 5: “officers attempted to break up the gathering with stun grenades and teargas”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the use of stun grenades and teargas by police to break up the gathering on the N4.
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web search NEUTRAL — Stun grenades and tear gas marked the end of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ protest in Brackenfell. Here’s a wrap-up of what occurred at the protest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q02HQrB1As
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga police use rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades to disperse EFF members blocking the N4 highway after Julius Malema's sentencing.However, the crowd refused and officers attempted to br…
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-04-16-wat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga EFF Chairperson Collen Sedibe has responded to the judgement of EFF CIC, Julius Malema.
https://www.tiktok.com/@officiallokuhlefm/video/762933787484…
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Claim 6: “The supporters then moved to the N4, nearby, and blocked it”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that EFF supporters blocked the N4 highway in the Mbombela/Mpumalanga area following the sentencing.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gauteng ( khow-TENG, Sotho: [xɑ́.úˈtʼèŋ̀]; Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; Zulu: eGoli or iGoli [îːˈɡóːlì]) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the sma…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauteng
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list of traffic collisions records serious road traffic accidents, with multiple fatalities. The list includes notable accidents with at least 5 deaths, which either occurred in unusual circumsta…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traffic_collisions_(20…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Events in the year 2025 in South Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_South_Africa
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 7: “Some EFF members retaliated by throwing stones at the police, who then fired rubbers bullets”
SINGLE SOURCE
One specific source describes the sequence of EFF members throwing stones and police responding with rubber bullets. Other results for 'rubber bullets' refer to different events (Nkandla, Madagascar), so this specific event is only confirmed by one source in the provided set.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mpumalanga police use rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades to disperse EFF members blocking the N4 highway after Julius Malema's sentencing.Some EFF members retaliated by throwing stones at the p…
https://www.businessday.co.za/news/2026-04-16-watch-rubber-b…
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web search NEUTRAL — Police fired rubber bullets and used a water canon and tear gas against ANC members who threw stones at EFF supporters near President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla residence on Saturday.
https://iol.co.za/news/politics/2014-01-11-rubber-bullets-fi…
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web search NEUTRAL — Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at some of the demonstrators, who responded by throwing stones. Tear gas fired near a maternity ward forced nursing staff to move premature babies to the back …
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/9/police-fire-tear-ga…
info
Claim 8: “Mpumalanga party chairperson Collen Sedibe addressed the gathering”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results provided for 'Collen Sedibe' are irrelevant (referring to names and construction companies). However, one result in the evidence for claim 0 mentions 'Mpumalanga EFF Chairperson Collen Sedibe has responded', but the specific act of addressing the gathering is not independently corroborated by the provided search results.
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web search NEUTRAL — Colleen is an English-language name of Irish origin. It derives from the Irish word cailín "girl/woman", the diminutive of caile "woman, countrywoman".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen
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web search NEUTRAL — Collen, a family owned-business established in 1810, is a leading international main contractor delivering construction projects in Ireland, the UK and Europe.
https://www.collen.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Established in 1810 and trading as Collen Bros. until 1984, Collen Construction is one of the leading construction firms in Ireland, and we are extremely proud of our history and reputation for...
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collen
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.