IEC fears election outcome can be challenged if Zuma is on MK party list

• Published date: 07 May 2024
• Publication title: Mail & Guardian: Web Edition Articles (Johannesburg, South Africa)

In an affidavit submitted to the apex court, counsel for the IEC, advocates Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC and Jason Mitchell said Zuma's standing for the elections would erode the foundations of the constitutional order and the rule of law

"The interests of justice unquestionably demand of this court to decide this matter now, not after the elections," they argued.

The electoral court ruled in favour of Zuma when the matter was brought before it, after the IEC had rejected his inclusion in the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's national list.

The electoral commission had rejected Zuma's name on the basis of his conviction and jailing by the constitutional court for contempt in 2021. The IEC cited the Constitution which states that a person who has been convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine is disqualified from standing for the National Assembly.

The IEC argues in its latest submissions that it is in the interest of justice to grant leave to appeal the electoral court's decision directly to the constitutional court. It said the electoral court's judgment was wrong and the three justices who made it were deeply flawed in their interpretation of the Constitution, an error which should urgently be corrected.

Arguing on urgency, the commission said the interests of justice unquestionably demand of the court to decide the matter "now", not after the elections.

"It is in the interests of justice that voters know if [Zuma] is eligible before they go to the polls. An appeal to the supreme court of appeal would not be feasible before then nor even before the MK party and Mr Zuma's suggested deadline of mid-June 2024," the commission's affidavit says.

A cornerstone of the MK party's appeal to the electoral court was the contention that Zuma's 15-month sentence in 2021 was, in the end, less than12 months because in August last year he was a beneficiary of a general remission extended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The president signed it just before Zuma was due to return to prison after his early release on medical parole was declared unlawful.

The IEC has argued in its papers that an appeal proviso does not make the sentence a non-sentence.

"The warrant of committal issued by the constitutional court could not have made it clearer. It commanded the [correctional services] department 'to receive' Mr Zuma 'into custody' and 'deal with him in accordance with the laws relating to prisons', as he had been 'found guilty...