Johnathan Paoli
THE Constitutional Court has reserved judgment on the Electoral Commission (IEC)’s urgent appeal application on whether uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party leader and former President Jacob Zuma could run as a candidate in the upcoming elections in May.
The constitutional bench, containing nine justices, deliberated on the commission’s appeal during hearings that concluded on Friday.
IEC advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi had submitted that the Electoral Court’s ruling was wrong, and that the court made a mistake to think that the remission of sentence Zuma got would change the fact that he was sentenced.
Ngcukaitobi said time was a factor considering how futile the case would be after the national and provincial elections in May.
Representing Zuma, advocate Dali Mpofu, however, argued that the commission did not enjoy the right to exercise section 47 of the Constitution which held that a citizen who has been convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months would not be eligible.
“Where does the IEC get the power to implement section 47 to disqualify someone from Parliament? The answer is nowhere,” Mpofu said.
The MK expressed its support for Zuma and said they felt vindicated in what they have referred to as an agenda against the former President.
However, IEC deputy CEO Masego Sheburi said the commission was only approaching the court in order to find legal clarity surrounding the interpretation of the section and which held constitutional implications for the role of the commission.
“The fact that the commission is appealing, it is not because of the personalities involved, but it is because it understands that the decision of the Electoral Court has implications of constitutional matters that implicate the role and obligations of the commission,” Sheburi said.
Sheburi previously said that the Constitutional Court decision would not have bearing on the ballot paper, since the electoral processes have been finalised and the lists could not be changed ahead of the elections.
The Constitution Court application was brought by the IEC, with the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and the Helen Suzman Foundation as friends of the court.
The IEC filed its application after the Electoral Court overturned the decision by it to disqualify Zuma as a candidate, due to his 15- month sentence for contempt of court by the ConCourt.
Earlier in the day, the country’s Apex Court dismissed Zuma’s counter-application to have six Constitutional judges to recuse themselves for possibly being ‘biased’ in a case that involved their own judgements.
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