MK party wants Zuma on ballot even if it means changing Constitution

Former President Jacob Zuma is going to Parliament even if it means amending the Constitution.

This is according to the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party after Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Thursday confirmed that an objection to Zuma’s candidature was received and upheld by the commission.

Disqualification

The IEC said its decision to uphold the objection against Zuma’s nomination – one of eight objections to candidates wanting to contest the elections  was not personal.

Chairperson, Mosotho Moepya said one of the grounds for disqualification is if any person who was convicted of an offence has been sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine.

“This disqualification ends five years after the sentence has been completed.”

Will of the people

The MK party, backed by Zuma, said it will study the IEC’s decision that Zuma will not be able to stand as a candidate of the party in the 29 May national and provincial elections.

MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said Zuma remained the face of the party, whether he was eligible to be on the ballot or not and warned the Constitution could not supersede the “will of the people,” News24 reported.

“The people will decide if we contest elections without Zuma. The people have decided that they want President Zuma to lead them,” adding that the Constitution could be changed to allow the former president to be on the ballot.

Private prosecution

This is the second major set back for Zuma after he suffered yet another defeat in his latest bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Wednesday dismissed his appeal in a two-page order.

SCA President Mahube Molemela found “no exceptional circumstances warranting reconsideration or variation of the decision refusing [Zuma’s] application for leave to appeal” the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg’s invalidation of his private prosecution.

Three full benches have now confirmed that the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s finding in June 2023 that the private prosecution of Downer and Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act by leaking his confidential medical information in August 2021 was an “abuse of the process of court”, had been pursued for an ulterior purpose, and was part Zuma’s ‘Stalingrad strategy’ to avoid trial for the arms deal corruption matter.

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