By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has accused the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of interfering in issues that were not of their concern, stating that they must focus on the appeal and not their recusal application.
MKP want the six justices who sentenced its leader Jacob Zuma to 15 months imprisonment in 2021 for contempt of court to recuse themselves.
The MKP and the IEC are going to square up in the apex court on Friday, after the elections body appealed the ruling of the Electoral Court, which found Zuma was eligible to run as a candidate in the May elections.
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 IEC has argued in its papers that an appeal proviso does not make the sentence a non-sentence.
The commission said the constitutional court had already dealt with appealability in the Zuma contempt judgment and was clear that “the Constitution categorically allows the denial of the right of appeal by empowering this court to entertain matters by way of direct access”.
IEC chair Mosotho Moepya believes that should the commission not have the judgment before election day, this would cast doubt on the credibility and fairness of the elections.
“If we had removed him [from the parliament candidate list] because we are appealing, and the ConCourt says,’No, he should have not been removed’ [he is eligible], we would have acted unlawfully. If, on the other hand, he should not be standing and we let him stand, it is also unlawful.
While Zuma has contested at least five of the justices of the apex court hearing the case, the IEC has no issues with them. Moepya said the case was not reopening Zuma’s 2021 15-month imprisonment sentence by the top court for contempt of court.
Spokesperson for MKP, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, commenting on their recusal application, slammed the IEC and accused them of interfering in issues that were not of their concern.
They are overreaching in a jurisdiction that has got nothing to do with them that they are seeking advice from and they now want to decide as to who must preside on the matter. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Asked whether Zuma was ready for the legal showdown, Ndhela said it was not a case of being ready or not, but rather a question of whether their request for the justices to be recused has been accepted.
“There are certain people who must recuse themselves, ” he said.
Zuma, who is now the leader and face of the MKP, said he and his party are of the firm view that six of the justices would be biased against him.
Meanwhile the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said that a constitutional provision prohibiting a convicted person from running in elections must apply to Zuma too.
The foundation has been admitted as the third “friend of the court” in a Constitutional Court application in which the Electoral Commission is challenging last month’s decision of the Electoral Court giving Zuma the go-ahead to run for public office.
In a written submission filed with the apex court on Wednesday, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said it believes the Electoral Court erred in its interpretation of the Constitution when it ruled on Zuma’s eligibility to contest this month’s elections.
The foundation said it does not believe that Section 47 of the Constitution does not apply to Zuma’s 15-month prison sentence because it was imposed by the country’s highest court and therefore not appealable.