Cape Town – The uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, facing challenges ahead of South Africa’s upcoming general election, is reportedly struggling to remove the names of its expelled former leaders from the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s candidate list for the National Assembly.
According to The Citizen, despite recent purges within the party, including the expulsion of five former leaders accused of “working with the enemy,” the IEC cannot alter candidate lists post-closing date.
Last month, the MK Party fired its founder, Jabulani Khumalo, to “cleanse itself”.
Khumalo, the man who founded and registered the party with the IEC last year, was among five members who were fired from the party. The other four members included Ray Khumalo, Bheki Manzini, Lebo Moepeng and Rochelle Davidson.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela confirms that the party has expelled five of its leaders. This includes Jabulani Khumalo, whom former president Jacob Zuma requested that he register the party on his behalf.
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The party said this was part of its commitment to purify itself from rogue elements who would blur its lines on the way to a two-thirds majority, IOL reported.
But Masego Shiburi, the deputy chief electoral officer of the IEC, said that the electoral commission lacked the authority to modify or delete certain names from the list of candidates for the MK party.
“In the case of the MK party or any other organisation – in terms of the law – leaders do not have a carte blanche right to remove any candidates’ names after the closing date,” The Citizen quoted Shiburi as saying on the sidelines of a workshop in Johannesburg on the legal intricacies and preparedness for the polls.
He added: “Changes cannot be made with the IEC but with secretaries of legislatures.
“We will gazette the lists as they are and we have no enabling legal instrument to change, adjust, alter or remove people’s names.
“Once the election results are announced, we will assign seats to people who were on the candidates’ list, transferring those to the chief justice and secretaries of legislatures.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
