South Africa’s Constitutional Court has upheld a decision by the country’s electoral body that former president Jacob Zuma’s criminal record precludes him from standing for parliament in the upcoming May 29 elections.
The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) originally disqualified Zuma in March but a month later a court overturned the disqualification, saying the relevant section of the constitution applied only to people who had a chance to appeal against their sentences, which had not been Zuma’s case.
The IEC then took the case to the Constitutional Court.
Monday’s Constitutional Court decision reinforced a constitutional provision that bars individuals sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine from becoming members of the National Assembly for five years.
Zuma and his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party had argued that the remission of his 15-month sentence for contempt of court in 2021 nullified the prohibition.
However, the court dismissed this argument, stating that the remission does not alter the original court sentence.
The court also rejected Zuma’s contention that the prohibition did not apply to him because his conviction for contempt of court did not constitute a crime as envisioned in section 47.
“Mr Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment 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 has lapsed till the completion of his sentence,” the court said in a judgement read by judge Leona Theron on Monday.
Theron emphasised that there was no distinction between convictions for civil contempt and other criminal convictions under the Constitution.
The ruling has significant implications for South Africa, including removing the threat that Zuma’s candidacy had posed for the governing African National Congress (ANC) and the potential of the violent disruption of the May 29 polls by MK supporters.
Opinion polls have projected that the ANC was at risk of losing its majority for the first time since 1994 dur to the threat posed by the MK, especially in Zuma’s populous home province of KwaZulu-Natal where he is popular.
The former president’s supporters have previously threatened violence if their leader is disqualified from contesting the poll.
The threat raises the spectre of July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces that followed Zuma’s 15-month imprisonment for alleged contempt of court – the same prison term that was the subject of the current legal battle between the MK and IEC.
JN/APA