The Electoral Court has ruled in favour of former President Jacob Zuma and his party uMkhonto weSizwe overturning the IEC's decision that had prohibited him from contesting in the May 29 general elections because of his criminal record.
THE COURT RULING
The Electoral Court sitting in the Gauteng High Court, in front of eight judges ordered that the leave to appeal be granted. "The appeal succeeds. The decision of the IEC in terms of which the Electoral Commission upheld Dr Matsapola's objection to the second applicant's candidacy Mr Zuma, is set aside and substituted with the following: The objection is hereby dismissed. No order is made as to costs," the court ruled. The decision means that Zuma will be back on the MK party's candidate list and will represent his new party in Parliament as their presidential candidate.
BARRED FROM CONTESTING IN ELECTIONS
Zuma and MK Party took the IEC to court to appeal their decision to bar him from contesting the elections after they announced last week that he had been removed from the party's candidate list as he was imprisoned for longer than 12 months without the option of a fine in 2021. 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. The former president only spent three months behind bars before he was released after President Cyril Ramaphosa granted him a remission of sentence.
BATTLING IT OUT IN COURT
MK Party which was represented by Advocate Dali Mpofu as their Senior Counsel argued that Zuma was being treated unfairly and that the IEC had no power to disqualify the former president from participating in the upcoming elections. He argued that the decision should lie with Parliament. "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. Mpofu added: "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. Representing the IEC, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued: "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,". This was the second win for the MK Party as they faced off with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the Electoral Court last month seeking to have the court deregister MK Party. The case was dismissed.
