The Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has slammed the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s comments that the former president Jacob Zuma’s legal team had no grounds to ask six Constitutional Court judges to recuse themselves from the matter.
The MKP and the IEC are ready to square up in the apex court on Friday after the elections body appealed the ruling of the Electoral Court, which found Zuma was eligible to run as a candidate in the May elections, despite being handed a 15-month prison sentence by the Constitutional Court, in June 2021.
Zuma and the MKP want the six justices who sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment in 2021 for contempt of court to recuse themselves.
On Thursday, the IEC said no matter the outcome of the appeal, it would have no bearing on the election as all electoral processes had been concluded and no more changes to the ballot or the electoral lists could be made.
Spokesperson for MKP, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, commenting on their recusal application, slammed the IEC and accused them of interfering in issues that were not of their concern, stating that they must focus on the appeal and not their recusal application.
“They are overreaching in a jurisdiction that has got nothing to do with them that they are seeking advice from and they now want to decide as to who must preside on the matter. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Asked whether Zuma was ready for the legal showdown, Ndhela said it was not a case of being ready or not, but rather a question of whether their request for the justices to be recused has been accepted.
“There are certain people who must recuse themselves,” he said.
Zuma, who is now the leader and face of the MKP, said he and his party are of the firm view that six of the justices would be biased against him.
According to the IEC, the ruling of the Electoral Court in the Zuma matter was problematic for the work of the IEC and they wanted the apex court to rule on the matter once and for all.
They said as the elections body, they were mandated to ensure that candidates who stood for the elections could stand in the National Assembly once elected.