Those who are not planning to vote in the 2024 general election are sellouts, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has said. 

He was addressing a crowd of his supporters outside the East London Magistrate's Court on Thursday, where he and his bodyguard, Adriaan Snyman, appeared on charges related to violating the Firearms Act in July 2018.  

The 2024 election, which will take place 30 years after the first democratic election, is considered the second most important election since the historic event of April 1994.

"If you miss this opportunity, know your suffering will be forever. If you are a youth and you are not registered to vote, you are a sellout. You sold our future. You are part of the problem,"  he said.

He said 2024 was akin to 1994 for the many young people voting for the first time.  

Malema said the youth, which is the majority demographic in South Africa, should use its strength to bring about change and urged young people to emulate the group of 1976 that took part in the Soweto uprising for the abolishing of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at schools.

"The youth must stand up, not with stones, not with tyres, but armed with a pen and go to the voting booth and vote," he said.  

"If you are at home, you don't have water and you are not registered to vote, you have yourself to blame. No Malema from Limpopo will liberate you. You ought to liberate yourself. Go out and vote." 

Only 19 parties were on the ballot when former president Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won the elections in 1994 by a landslide. 

This year, however, more than 200 parties and several independent candidates are set to contest. 

Those who left the governing party established some of the new political parties.  

Malema's address came shortly after East London Magistrate Twanett Olivier dismissed his and Snyman's application for withdrawal of the charges against them due to lack of evidence.

Olivier upheld the State's argument that the two have a case to answer.  

The case stems from a viral video in which Malema was seen firing what appeared to be a rifle in front of a crowd during the EFF's fifth birthday celebrations at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane.  

Snyman faces one count of contravening the Firearms Control Act and failure to take reasonable precautions to avoid danger to a person's property, while Malema faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and three counts of contravening the Firearms Control Act. 

The trial will resume on 15 July 2024.