The Electoral Court sitting at the South Gauteng High Court has dismissed the ANC's application to have Jacob Zuma's new political party deregistered by the IEC ahead of the 29 May general elections. In their judgment this morning, Justice Lebogang Modiba and Judge Leicester Rock Adams rejected an application for late submission of its objections by the ANC and further ruled that the ANC only has itself to blame.

ELECTORAL COURT

ANC took the IEC and MK Party to Electoral Court challenging the registration of Zuma's new political party. The ANC wanted the court to declare MK's registration in September 2023 as invalid and unlawful. The MK party submitted its registration application on 1 June 2023, but was rejected by the IEC after Deputy Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mawethu Mosery found the registration to be irregular. Mosery explained to the party in August last year that their application was rejected due to fraudulent voter signatures submitted by the party. Mosery, in the letter, told the party to submit a new registration but the party supplemented their application the same month and their registration was signed by Mosery in September 2023.

When the ANC learnt that MK Party did not submit a new application, they lodged an objection with the IEC in the same month, appealing that the commission sets aside Mosery's decision to register MK Party.

The appeal was rejected by the IEC. The MK party was registered in September last year and gained popularity when Zuma endorsed the party by campaigning for it. The ANC wanted the IEC to review it as they had previously argued that the MK and its logo belonged to them. It further argued that the case should be heard urgently. MK bears the same name as the ANC's disbanded military wing.

THE JUDGMENT 

Justice Modiba said in their judgment that the court found that the ANC which acknowledged that it should have instituted court proceedings within the prescribed three days of the IEC's decision, failed to explain why they waited longer to lodged the court application. "The ANC failed to raise the objection at the time when the MK application for registration was made, this meant that it lost its legal standing to challenge the party's registration. Having failed to object to the application for registration, by operation of law, the ANC became nonsuited to impugn the deputy chief electoral officer's decision. Therefore, it only has itself to blame,' Modiba said, adding that there was nothing unlawful about the registration of MK Party with the IEC, noting that the ANC's application was dismissed with no order to pay.

SECOND ROUND

The two parties will be back at the Pietermaritzburg High Court tomorrow where the ANC is challenging the use of the uMkhonto weSizwe's name and a logo that is similar to that of its disbanded military wing for copyright infringement. Speaking to supporters outside the court, the founder of the party Jabulani Khumalo said that MK would be on the ballot despite the ANC's attempts to remove them. "This means that we will be voting for Nxamalala on 29 May. On 1 June Nxamalala will be constituting his cabinet,' Khumalo said.