MK party leader Jacob Zuma.
Former president Jacob Zuma dream of toppling his successor President Cyril Ramaphosa has been dealt with a major blow after the Constitutional Court decided to uphold the Electoral Commission’s decision to bar him from being an MP.
Though the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) confirmed that Zuma’s picture will still appear on ballot papers for the 2024 national elections, his new political toy the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has rejected the Constitutional Court ruling which found that Ramaphosa’s predecessor former president Zuma is not eligible to contest elections and to run for Parliament.
MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said however Zuma will pursue all possibilities including approaching the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), to have the Constitutional Court ruling overturned after it disqualified him from participating in the National Assembly after the elections.
Ndhlela said however that Zuma’s allies weren’t surprised by the “flawed” judgment that was arrived at by six of the ten "conflicted justices" of the highest court in the land.
Ndhlela said: “The MK Party acknowledges the recent judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that former president Zuma is not eligible to stand as a member of the MK Party in the National Assembly. This unsurprising decision, while disappointing, has not disheartened us. Instead, it has re-enforced our conviction that the current system, where just 10 unelected individuals can make lifetime decisions for 62 million people, is fundamentally flawed.”
Earlier, the Constitutional Court dismissed an application by Zuma and his legal team to have six of the court’s judges recused in a case involving the IEC and the MK party.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued it was a futile exercise to debate that the contentious Zuma, an ally of the controversial Gupta family was convicted of a crime, when three years ago it sentenced him to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
According to Ngcukaitobi, the former ANC president Zuma fell obscene of section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution, which prevents anyone sentenced to prison for 12 months or more without the option of a fine from serving as a member of parliament for five years.
“There is absolutely no debate that in South African law contempt of court is a crime like any other crime,” Ngcukaitobi said.
Zuma’s legal representative advocate Dali Mpofu argued that Zuma is the only person to be jailed without a trial which he described as a serious miscarriage of justice in SA’s legal history.
Advocate Max du Plessis of Corruption Watch said Zuma’s interpretation of section 47 of the Constitution was skewed.
“A person sentenced by this court for a very serious crime who poses a grave risk to the Constitution would remain eligible to contest elections, but a person that is sentenced by a lower court for a far less serious crime would be disqualified,” Du Plessis argued.
He said further that the court explained that the denial of the right of appeal to Zuma was permitted by the Constitution. “It empowers this court to entertain matters by way of direct access. It’s the Constitution itself that saw fit to take away the right of appeal. Where direct access is warranted in these types of cases, said the court, the right of appeal simply does not arise,” he said.
Meanwhile, founder of MK party, Jabulani Khumalo, told the IEC to remove Zuma as the face of the party and from its list of members of parliament.
Khumalo said Zuma fraudulently occupied the position through his letter to the IEC dated May 5.
“In these circumstances I request urgently that the Electoral Commission should remove Mr Zuma's name as the ‘face’ of the MK party. He should also be immediately removed as the president of the MKP. He occupies both positions through fraudulent and illegal manoeuvres,” Khumalo wrote to the IEC.
MK leader Jacob Zuma faces more woes.
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