Johnathan Paoli
THE Electoral Commission (IEC) has noted the judgement by the Constitutional Court, and praised its clarification on the role of the Commission in qualifying candidates nominated to stand for election to the National Assembly (NA), it said in a statement on Monday.
But the Commission confirmed the judgement will not affect the ballot papers for the upcoming elections in anyway, and that while the photograph of former President Jacob Zuma will remain in the cluster of identifiers of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, his name, however, will be removed from the MK’s candidates nomination list.
The IEC statement comes after the ConCourt on Monday, upheld the Commission’s appeal against the Electoral Court which initially overturned its decision to disqualify former President Jacob Zuma from running as a Member of Parliament.
The IEC had approached the court on whether or not it had the necessary jurisdiction to enforce section 47(1)(e) of the constitution regarding the eligibility of members of the National Assembly.
The court concluded that Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment and for the purposes of section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution and is accordingly, not eligible to be a member of and not qualified to stand for election to the National Assembly until five years have elapsed since the completion of his sentence.
The IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said the Commission was thankful for the assistance by the court and said that it could now focus on preparing for the upcoming elections at the end of the month.
“Now that the matter has been settled by the highest court and given that the constitutional uncertainties have been clarified, the Commission can continue with final preparations for free and fair 2024 National and Provincial Elections single-mindedly, without apprehension that the elections are susceptible to challenge,” Bapela said.
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