ZUMA TAKES ON IEC OVER OBJECTION TO CANDIDACY
MK Party prepares Electoral Court appeal
UMKHONTO weSizwe Party leader and former president Jacob Zuma has appealed the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision to uphold an objection lodged against his candidacy to return to Parliament.
Speaking to Cape Argus’s sister title the Daily News hours before the deadline expired yesterday, MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the lawyers had filed papers in the Electoral Court.
He said their appeal was based on the fact that Zuma was not convicted criminally but was just in contempt of court and therefore he had no criminal record.
In 2021, the Constitutional Court ordered that: “(It) is declared that Mr Jacob Zuma is guilty of the crime of contempt of court for failure to comply with the order made by this court in Secretary of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State v Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma and Others (2021) ZACC 2.”
Ndhlela said: “As far as we understand, that constitutional clause they (IEC) talk about refers to people with criminal records so we do not think Zuma falls under that category.”
The party then said Zuma’s matter can be characterised and described as civil contempt proceedings that invoke a criminal sanction or threat.
Yesterday was the deadline for people to lodge applications for objections made against them at the Electoral Court. Last week, the electoral body upheld the objection against Zuma’s inclusion on the parliamentary list. Zuma appeared at No 1 on the list.
The decision to omit Zuma was taken following the public candidate list inspection process, which took place last week. Speaking on the SABC earlier in the day, Ndhlela said: “uMkhonto weSizwe as a party, as you would know, went through the court process that we won in the Electoral Court is going to be on the ballot paper, that is one thing that ought to be clear because there is a notion that President Zuma’s face or a leader’s face ought to be in the ballot and I think that’s a wrong view of it. The actual emblem or the logo of a political party is going to be there, so it’s not a face per se.”
In the notice of the appeal, the party quoted (now retired) Judge Sisi Khampepe’s then remarks: “To this effect, Khampepe ACDJ correctly pointed out that “(it) is not a conventional criminal trial” and that “a respondent in contempt proceedings is not an ‘accused person’ as envisioned by section 35 of the Constitution.”
The party further argued that President Cyril Ramaphosa granted Zuma remission of his sentence, which has the effect of reducing a prisoner’s sentence of imprisonment and/or extinguishing the remaining part of it.
“As at the date of the presidential remission of the sentence, Mr Zuma had served just less than 3 months of the original sentence. By the act of remission, the remaining 12-month portion of the sentence was extinguished. Therefore, his effective or ultimate sentence was reduced to approximately 3 months, which is less than the 12 months yardstick prescribed in section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution,” read the appeal document.
Yesterday, the electoral body was unable to confirm or deny Zuma’s appeal, saying it would have to find out from the Electoral Court whether Zuma met the deadline or not.
The body relied on Section 47(e) of the country’s Constitution:
(1) Every citizen who is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of the Assembly, except anyone who, after this section took effect, is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine …
Zuma has been criss-crossing the country campaigning for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party after he publicly endorsed it on December 16 last year, when he acknowledged that the party was formed with his knowledge and his blessings.