South Africa’s ruling party for three decades, the African National Congress (ANC) has lost a court bid seeking to deregister former president Jacob Zuma’s new political toy uMkhoto weSizwe (MK) party.
The ANC argued that Masego Sheburi, the deputy chief electoral officer, acted unlawfully when he registered MK party which will contest the 29th of May 2024, much-anticipated elections however on Tuesday, Judge Lebogang Modiba dismissed the ANC’s court application.
“We find there is nothing unlawful about the registration of the MK party by the deputy chief electoral officer,” Judge Modiba said.
According to Judge Modiba the ruling party led by President Cyril Ramaphosa has itself to blame following its snail pace to challenge the matter. She argued that the ANC should have challenged the MK party’s registration last year but brought the matter beyond the required period.
“If the ANC’s application is granted, it will be too late for the MK to reapply for registration as a political party in order to contest the upcoming elections.The ANC should have objected to MK Party’s registration within the first 14 days of the publication of the notice of MK registration,” Modiba added.
The ANC said through its spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri it strongly objects to the use of our Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) logo and name by this party, and we will be addressing this issue in the High Court in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow, 27th March 2024.
“The MK logo and name is the heritage and intellectual property of the ANC, we will not allow counterrevolutionaries to hijack our movement for their personal gain,” Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said.
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