ConCourt to hear IEC vs Electoral Court over Zuma's validity to run for public office
The commission is at the apex court to challenge the Electoral Court’s ruling overturning its decision to bar Zuma from running for Parliament due to his 15-month prison sentence in 2021.
FILE: Former President Jacob Zuma at the Shekainah Healing Ministries Prophetic Pillowcase service in Phillipi, near Cape Town, on March 10, 2024. Picture: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP
JOHANNESBURG - The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will be at the Constitutional Court on Friday, to try and keep former president Jacob Zuma from running for Parliament.
The commission cut him from his new uMkhonto weSize (MK) Party's nominee candidates list because of the 15 months in prison he got for contempt in 2021 over his refusal to attend the state capture commission of inquiry.
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In terms of the Constitution, anyone sentenced to more than 12 months without the option of a fine is disqualified from sitting in Parliament.
The Electoral Court overturned the IEC's decision, and the IEC has now approached the apex court with an urgent appeal bid.
The IEC maintains that the Electoral Court got it wrong in finding the presidential remission that was ultimately granted to Jacob Zuma had the legal effect of cutting down his sentence to below the 12-month threshold.
It also aims at the finding that because Zuma’s sentence was handed down by the apex court and wasn’t appealable, it wasn’t the kind contemplated in the Constitution - which says the disqualification only kicks in after all appeals have been exhausted.
MK Party and Zuma, meanwhile, are opposing, and have brought a cross-appeal challenging the Electoral Court’s finding that his conviction, at least, was the kind contemplated in the Constitution.
They have also brought a counterapplication for the recusal of five Constitutional Court justices who sat on the bench that sentenced Zuma and Chief Justice Raymond Zondo because of his role as chair of the state capture commission.