Johnathan Paoli
THE Constitutional Court has expressed its openness to hear the case between uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
The country’s apex court issued directions to the respondents (the MK party) to file answering affidavits before Thursday and said that further directions may be issued.
This follows the recent ruling by the Electoral Court which granted former president Jacob Zuma’s appeal to set aside the IEC’s decision to uphold an objection against the eligibility of Zuma in relation to section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution.
While the Electoral Court is yet to provide its full judgement on the matter, including the reasons for dismissing the commission’s appeal, the commission went ahead with filing its papers in the ConCourt earlier this month, and on an urgent basis.
The IEC argued in court that it based its application in terms of the public interest and the interests of justice for there to be finality and clarity on the constitutional section before the casting of the votes, in order to avoid the election and its outcome being tainted.
The court relayed its ruling calling for the submission of the required documents.
“The Deputy Chief Justice has issued the following directions: respondents that are opposing the application must file answering affidavits on or before Thursday, April 25. Further directions may be issued,“ the court held.
INSIDE POLITICS
