Zuma is healthy and strong, says MKP
THE uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has dismissed reports that former president Jacob Zuma is unwell as it awaits a decision by the Constitutional Court on its request for an extension to file an answering affidavit to the application for leave to appeal by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
This as the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) filed an application to be admitted as a friend of the court in the matter.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday issued directions to the party and Zuma or any other parties opposing the IEC’s urgent bid to appeal against the Electoral Court order that allowed Zuma to stand for Parliament, to file answering affidavits by yesterday.
Zungu Incorporated wrote to the court on Wednesday, saying it wanted to “humbly” point out that the time afforded to Zuma and the MKP was unreasonably short in the circumstances.
The lawyers said they had been able to make contact with their clients and counsel only on Wednesday morning.
“The legal representatives were unfortunately engaged in other matters, and with the elections around the corner, the clients were spread out across the country campaigning for votes. It therefore seems like we will only be able to consult and receive instructions over the coming weekend.”
Zungu Incorporated said the Electoral
Court had yet to provide reasons for its order of April 9 and the matter was not ready for proper adjudication.
“In the present circumstances it is practically impossible to comply with the directive to furnish any meaningful answering affidavit(s) in the next 24 hours or so. We are therefore instructed to make this humble request, as we hereby do, to be granted an extension until close of business on Tuesday, 30 April 2024,” the law firm said.
The MKP spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, said the party did not understand why there was such urgency to have the matter heard. “To give us 48 hours, and expect our attorneys as if they are just waiting for every single court case or waiting for court cases to be lodged against us, is unrealistic.
“We are focusing on a campaign here and they want to bog us down with cases and expect us to turn around documentation of such a sensitive nature within 48 hours.”
On reports that Zuma was unwell after falling at his Nkandla home, Ndhlela said these were “nothing more than a calculated attempt to sow discord and slow the progress of the MKP as it gains traction in the political arena”.
“These stories, propagated by apartheid-trained journalists and forces opposed to the consolidation of black power, are intended to create fear and uncertainty within our ranks.
“The falsehoods about President Zuma’s health are desperate attempts to disrupt our progress and weaken our resolve.”
Ndhlela said Zuma was “healthy, strong and in great spirits”.
In its founding affidavit on Tuesday, Casac executive secretary Lawson Naidoo said the legal NGO sought to submit written arguments and present oral arguments at the hearing of the matter.
Casac said a result of the Electoral
Court’s decision was that despite the Constitutional Court’s decision of June 2021 convicting Zuma for the crime of contempt and sentencing him to 15 months in prison, the former president was presently not disqualified from seeking election to the National Assembly.
Naidoo said the central premise of the Electoral Court order, it appeared, was that as a result of the special remission of sentences granted by President Cyril Ramaphosa in August 2021 to about 9 000 sentenced offenders, including Zuma, the Electoral Court must have determined that Zuma‘s sentence was reduced by the 12 months’ remission amount.
Naidoo said Casac, if admitted as a friend of the court, would advance submissions not canvassed by either party, and provide comparative and foreign case law that might assist the court in its adjudication of the matter.