The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it is consulting with its lawyers on the way forward regarding Tuesday’s ruling which dismissed its objection against uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) leader Jacob Zuma’s candidacy as the face of the party.
The Electoral Court ruled in favour of Zuma after he approached the court to appeal against a decision in which he was disqualified from standing for public office.
The IEC decided to uphold an objection that was made against the president’s candidacy.
In a statement on Tuesday, shortly after the Electoral Court’s decision, the commission said it wanted to be furnished with the reasons behind the judgment.
It is not clear at this stage if the court will appeal the decision, but the commission said it was studying the judgment and would, in due course, chart a way forward.
“The Electoral Commission has today received two orders from the Electoral Court. We have taken note of the contents of both orders. Furthermore, we have noted that the orders were issued without reasoned judgment. In order to understand the basis of the conclusions reached in both matters, it is important that reasons are provided. We will accordingly request the Electoral Court to hand down reasons for the orders made,” said the commission.
The IEC said one of the orders was the IEC matter against Zuma. The second matter pertained to the interpretation of the word “consulate” to include honorary consulates as provided in Section 33(3) of the Electoral Act.
“Naturally, the commission is taking legal advice on both matters and will chart a way forward based on such advice as well as reasoned judgments that it may receive, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future,” it said.
Reacting to the judgement on Tuesday, MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said that any appeal by the IEC would be seen as a desperate attempt against Zuma and not in the interest of justice.
“This verdict sends a strong message to the Ramaphosa ANC and its allies that any attempt to subvert the law for political advantage will not be tolerated by the MK Party, its members, supporters and all the people of South Africa,” Ndhlela said.
The Star