Barring Zuma would disenfranchise voters, Electoral Court hears
On Monday, the uMkhonto weSizwe party argued that excluding former president Jacob Zuma from standing as a candidate would disadvantage him and his followers.
The party has approached the Electoral Court to appeal the decision by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to disqualify Zuma from standing for public office.
The IEC confirmed last week that it had received and upheld an objection to Zuma's nomination.
This is due to his conviction in 2021, in which he was sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment for failing to appear before the Zondo Commission.
The former president is candidate number one on the list of the newly formed MK party.
The party named him their presidential candidate. However, Section 47 of the Constitution stipulates that a candidate cannot be elected to Parliament or legislature if they have been convicted of a crime and sentenced without an option for a fine.
The candidate can only become eligible again after five years.
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The MK party’s legal team told the court on Monday that Zuma was imprisoned without being afforded his constitutional rights to a free and fair trial.
The party's legal counsel, Advocate Dali Mpofu, argued that if the court upholds the IEC's decision, MK party supporters will be deprived of their right to vote for a candidate.
"We cannot afford, as a country, to disenfranchise former president Jacob Zuma, the MK party or whatever number of people who support them.
“They claim that it is millions of people. They may be right; we will know on May 29th.
“It doesn't matter; it could be three people; their right to vote will be infringed because they will not have the right to choose to be represented by the person that they want," said Mpofu.
He added: "In South Africa or any other country, we should be extremely cautious before we can deny the political rights of anybody. The mere reason that we have a constitution and the reason why we are here today is because people were denied the right to vote, the right to participate in politics and many other rights.”
Mpofu said the National Assembly should be afforded the power to manage its affairs.
"The National Assembly is entrusted with the power to manage its own affairs, one of its affairs is to determine who is a member and who is not a member.
“Ideally, if the IEC allows my person to be on the list now, and then in April, that person is sentenced to 10 years, what must happen? The IEC has nothing to do with it.
"The National Assembly must deal with it. It is the National Assembly that must tell that person that they are not eligible to be a member. The IEC does not enter anywhere in this," says Mpofu.
