Cape Town – The Constitutional Court of South Africa has dismissed an urgent application by former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party to stop the first sitting of Parliament on Friday.
The court ruled that it was not within its jurisdiction to hear the case and that it was not in the interest of justice to grant the MK Party direct access.
The court highlighted that the MK Party had delayed its application despite knowing the constitutional requirements and thus the urgency was self-created.
[JUST-IN] #MKParty’s Urgent application to halt the first sitting of the National Assembly on Friday has been dismissed by the constitutional court. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/yajlB5pCLe
— #LordOfTheMedia (@samkelemaseko) June 12, 2024
“It is not in the interests of justice to grant direct access as the impugned decisions or conduct first arose between 1 and 2 June 2024, to the knowledge of the applicant. However, despite this knowledge, the applicant only launched the application on 10 June 2024. The applicant has failed to show any justification for not bringing this application sooner when it was aware of the constitutional requirement to convene the National Assembly no later than 14 days after the declaration of the election results. In the circumstances, the urgency is thus self-created,” the court said.
Additionally, the MK Party’s application failed on its merits, as it did not demonstrate irreparable harm or a balance of convenience in its favour, and had misconstrued the relevant constitutional provisions.
Furthermore, the court noted that proper procedures were not followed in serving other parties, leading to the dismissal of the application.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
