The Electoral Court sitting in the Gauteng High Cout in Johannesburg will hand down the ruling on former President Jacob Zuma's fate today on whether he will be on the uMkhonto weSize Party's candidate list of those eligible to participate in the general elections to be held next month. Zuma took the Independent Electoral Commision of South Africa (IEC) to court to appeal their decision to bar him from contesting the elections.

REMOVED FROM THE CANDIDATE LIST

Last week, the IEC announced that Zuma had been removed from the MK candidate list as he was imprisoned for longer than 12 months without the option of a fine in 2021. The former state man was sent to prison in July 2021 for 15 months for contempt of court after he refused to appear before the Zondo Commission for cross-examination on his evidence. Section 47 of the Constitution states that any person who is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment without the option of a fine is disqualified from standing for public office. Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa granted Zuma a remission of sentence after a judgment that said he was granted medical parole unlawfully and had to complete the rest of his 15-month sentence as convicted by the Constitutional Court.

ZUMA IS BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY

MK Party which was represented by Advocate Dali Mpofu as their Senior Counsel argued that Zuma was being treated unfairly and acted with bias. "Zuma was not convicted of an offence through criminal proceedings and that the remission of sentence he was granted effectively reduced his sentence from 15 months to three months, which is short of the yardstick of 12 months," argued Mpofu. MK Party is arguing that the sentence that was given to Zuma in 2021 is three months due to the remission of sentence granted to the former President. "The effect of remission has been clearly described. In fact, the synonym for remission is to cancel and it even says to set aside. So, in this case, the ultimate sentence as a result of remission and not as a result of an appeal or a review is three months," said Mpofu. On the other hand, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi representing the IEC argued that, "The constitutional drafters are trying to tell us is that serious law breakers should not be lawmakers that is the purpose behind section 47 (1)(e) of the Constitution,". The court will deliver the ruling this morning, electronically.