Johnathan Paoli
The Constitutional Court has dismissed former President Jacob Zuma’s application for the recusal of six ‘biased’ judges with costs reserved and the reasons to be provided in the main judgement, the court said.
The legal representatives of the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party accused Justices Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Steven Majiedt, Nonkosi Mhlantla, Leona Theron and Zukisa Tshiqi of bias, with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo not sitting for the appeal.
The party’s legal representatives claimed that the six cited justices would be bound to seek to interpret their own previous decision which now lies at the heart of the controversy.
This ConCourt decision follows the IEC’s approach to the Apex Court after the Electoral Court set aside an objection to Zuma running in next month’s election because he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
In 2021, the ConCourt, including the judges in question, sentenced Zuma to prison on charges of contempt of court, following his refusal to appear before the Zondo State Capture Commission.
The Constitutional Court decision now has cleared the way for the court to hear the appeal from the IEC, against the Electoral Court’s decision.
Furthermore, the court has dismissed the Labour Party, ACT Party & Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats’ final bid to contest the 2024 elections, barring the parties after they failed to comply with section 27 of the Electoral Act.
However, ACT will still be running, following the partial submission of their candidates list.
This is a developing story.
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