Former uMkhonto weSizwe Party leader and co-founder Jabulani Khumalo's aspirations to represent the party in Parliament have been shattered following the dismissal of his two cases by the Electoral Court today. Khumalo alleged that his signature was forged during the transfer of the leadership position and sought to be reinstated as the party leader. However, his claims were dismissed by the court sitting at the Bloemfontein High Court.

THE VERDICT 

Khumalo accused former President Jacob Zuma and his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla of forging his signature on a form to transfer the leadership position to the former President. Khumalo was expelled alongside six other members in April, less than a month before the general elections for being 'rebellious against the party protocol'. The court ruled today that Khumalo's forgery allegations were baseless. Additionally, it found that Khumalo had voluntarily resigned from the party and that the dates align with the Independent Electoral Commission's records regarding the change of ownership and leadership.

A WASTE OF COURT'S TIME

Judge Lebogang Modiba, in delivering the judgment, also dismissed Khumalo's request to be reinstated as the party leader of MK, with costs. "For all the above reasons, the application also constitutes an abuse of this court's processes and a waste of its judiciary economy and the opposing respondent's resources. They incurred legal costs opposing an application that should not have seen the lights of day. It would be unfair to leave the respondents out of pocket under these circumstances," Judge Modiba ruled. "A punitive cost against Mr Khumalo is the appropriate way of censuring his conduct and sending a message to the public making false statements under oath and abuse of court's processes countenanced," said Modiba.

On Monday, the embattled Khumalo issued a statement where he instructed all 58 MK Party members who are eligible to go to Parliament to be present as he was also going there to be sworn in. That quickly changed after the Parliament informed him that they were removing his name from the list of people who were going to represent the MK party was no longer a member of the party that initially nominated him.