The Constitutional Court has dismissed uMkhonto weSizwe Party's bid to interdict the National Assembly sitting to elect a president tomorrow.

URGENT INTERDICT

On Tuesday, the MK Party filed an urgent interdict against the sitting of the National Assembly as the party is not happy about the elections results. The party alleged that they had evidence of vote rigging during the 29 May general elections. In the ruling that was released on Wednesday evening, the panel of judges said the MK Party failed to file the interdict within the prescribed dates in the Constitution. "It is not in the interest of justice to grant direct access as the impugned decisions or conduct first arose between 1 and 2 June 2024, to the knowledge of the applicant. However, despite this knowledge, the applicant only launched the application on 10 June 2024. The applicant has failed to show any justification for not bringing this application sooner when it was aware of the constitutional requirement to convene the National Assembly no later than 14 days after the declaration of the election results. In the circumstances, the urgency is thus self-created," the ruling read.

PRIMA FACIE CASE

The ruling further said, "The applicant has not made out a case for the granting of an interim interdict as it has neither shown that it will suffer irreparable harm if the interdict is not granted, nor that the balance of convenience favours the granting of the interdict. The applicant has also misconstrued the relevant constitutional provisions it seeks to rely on. In addition, the applicant has not adduced facts to establish a prima facie case in respect of the relief it will seek in the main application, in order to sustain an interim interdict pending the main application." The court dismissed the matter with no cost, meaning the sitting of the National Assembly will be held as scheduled tomorrow. The MK Party made it clear that their 58 members were not going to attend the first sitting of the National Assembly.