SA COURT RULES FORMER PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ‘NOT ELIGIBLE’ TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT

Mon 20 May 2024:

South Africa’s highest court has disqualified former President Jacob Zuma from running for parliament in the upcoming general election. The Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma’s 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court makes him ineligible to stand for election.

Zuma was convicted in 2021 for refusing to testify at a corruption inquiry regarding his presidency, which ended in 2018. He has been campaigning with the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party after parting ways with the governing African National Congress (ANC).

Despite the court’s ruling, MK secretary general Sihle Ngubane stated that the decision would not affect the party’s campaign for the May 29 election. In South Africa, voters choose political parties, and the candidates listed at the top of the parties’ lists are awarded parliamentary seats proportional to the number of votes received.

The electoral commission confirmed that Zuma’s name would be removed from MK’s list of candidates but his image would remain on the ballot papers along with the party’s logo. MK supporters, portraying Zuma as a victim, sang and danced outside the court while those inside, some in traditional Zulu attire, sat quietly as Justice Leona Theron delivered the unanimous judgment.

Zuma has yet to comment on the ruling. His supporters had previously rioted when he was imprisoned in 2021, and some leaders had threatened violence if he were barred from the election. However, MK officials have since shifted their focus to securing a two-thirds majority in the election to amend the constitution and potentially reinstate Zuma.

In court, his lawyers had argued that because he was released after three months in prison by his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, the rest of his sentence was cancelled. But the court disagreed, saying the length of time he actually spent in prison was irrelevant.

“It is declared that Mr Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment … and is accordingly not eligible to be a member of, and not qualified to stand for election to, the National Assembly,” the court said.

Justice Theron emphasized that South Africa’s constitution prohibits anyone sentenced to at least 12 months in prison, without the option of a fine, from serving in parliament to safeguard the integrity of the “democratic regime” established after apartheid ended in 1994.

South African President Ramaphosa told a local radio station that he “noted” the ruling.

“The court has ruled, and as I have often said, that is the highest court in the land and we have given the judiciary the right to arbitrate disputes amongst us in terms of our constitution,” he said in an interview with 702.

Opinion polls suggest the ANC’s majority is at risk after 30 years in power, and the MK presents a threat, especially in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), where he remains popular.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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