By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Electoral Court on Tuesday ruled that former President Jacob Zuma can run for the upcoming election, overturning an earlier decision that had barred him from contesting the polls.
The decision paves the way for Zuma to run for president on behalf of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had earlier ruled that Zuma could not run for office due to his criminal record, after it received an objection against his candidature.
South Africa’s constitution does not allow people who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine to stand for elections as lawmakers.
Zuma was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in 2021 for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission probing corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.
In his court application to have the IEC ruling overturned, the former president’s lawyers said Zuma had not been criminally charged, did not undergo a trial and was not convicted of a criminal offence but was instead subjected to civil contempt proceedings. This meant that his removal from the list based on a criminal conviction was improper.
The lawyers said that the IEC had also failed to take into consideration Zuma’s remission of sentence, in terms of which he served only three months after being released on medical parole in September 2021.
Zuma’s lawyer advocate Dali Mpofu SC argued that the decision by the IEC to remove his client would be an infringement of his rights and would deprive uMkhonto weSizwe Party supporters of voting for the candidate of their choice.
Mpofu said the point they are making was that the IEC does not have the authority, or it must tell this court where it gets the authority to implement section 47.
Section 47 mainly deals with the fact that every citizen who is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of the assembly.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi for the IEC said that Zuma is not qualified to be a candidate “right now” and does not qualify to go to the National Assembly.
Ngcukaitobi said the decision by the president to remit Zuma’s jail term cannot be used to change his sentence.
“It was not even the decision of the president to change it from 15 months to three months. We have to confront this matter and not try to tiptoe around the matter and make excuses for this appellant. The president did not change Zuma’s sentence, he had the power to change the term of the sentence,” he said.
He added that president Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision was irrelevant to the sentence Zuma was given by the court.
“Zuma is disqualified,” he said. “We must not conflate this with the period served and the date of his release. The remission did not change the sentence. It simply determined the period of release. The executive cannot say you are sentenced to 15 months, it can say that we forgive you, you are now released,” Ngcukaitobi said.
However, in a brief court order released on Tuesday, the court announced that an appeal by Zuma and his party was successful and that the objection against his candidature had been dismissed.
“The appeal succeeds. The decision of the electoral commission of 28 March 2024 in terms of which the electoral commission upheld Dr Maroba Jimmy Matsapola’s objection to the second applicant’s candidacy [Zuma] is set aside and substituted with the following: The objection is hereby dismissed.”
Meanwhile ActionSA has welcomed a recent ruling by the Press Council of South Africa against the publication of questionable political polls.
In a statement on Tuesday following the Press Council ruling, the party emphasised the importance of responsible journalism in safeguarding the integrity of the democratic process and accuracy in media reporting.
ActionSA had lodged a complaint with the Press Council after Rapport, City Press and News24 ran a poll that was allegedly shared by DA and seemed to favour the party.
“This is the first victory in a long road to the regulation of the polling industry that is necessary to protect our young democracy from abuses that impact upon the free expression of voter choice,” said ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont.
The Press Council’s ruling addressed ActionSA’s concerns about the poll’s validity and accuracy, which claimed to be a way of measuring public opinion on several political issues.
The poll was deemed untrustworthy and dishonest due to some inconsistencies and irregularities such as the lack of transparency, biased reporting, and misleading information, and in its approach and execution that were brought to light by the Press Council ruling.
ActionSA believes the ruling will be vital in upholding journalistic ethics and standards when conducting surveys and opinion polls.