The bodyguards of EFF leader Julius Malema allegedly fired live rounds at party members who threw bottles at his car when he was leaving a party conference on Saturday in Gauteng.

The party’s student leader at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus Mphahlele Phasoane Mpho alleged this on Sunday.

Mpho said he and others were outside the venue in Midvaal‚ listening to Malema’s speech via Facebook Live.

Mpho said after the speech‚ Malema and his bodyguards got into a car. When they were leaving‚ some delegates started heckling Malema‚ calling him a sell-out. Malema’s car moved forward and made a U-turn.

“The security from the car comes out together with the CIC (commander-in-chief Malema). Then they beat people up‚” Mpho said.

There was a gunshot and the crowd dispersed.

“Then comrades came back again and they threw bottles‚ they threw a lot of things. They threw a lot of things. I don’t know if there were stones.”