Cape Town — A smiling Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein this morning, where the court was set to hear his appeal over his eligibility to contest the 2024 elections.
The former president smiled as he was greeted by a number of supporters outside the court. His eligibility turns on a constitutional stipulation that bars anyone sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment from serving in Parliament.
The Counsel argued, unsuccesfully, that the justices of the ConCourt who failed Zuma in 2021 may now harbour an unconscious bias towards him and should recuse themselves froma case that will settle whether he could stand for parliament in next months elections.
The application was dismissed, Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said after a morning of argument on this point. The court did not give reasons, but is expected to do so later in its judgment.
[BREAKING NEWS] Former president Jacob Zuma’s application for ConCourt justices to recuse themselves from the matter between his party and the IEC dismissed. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/eGP0IUUj64
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) May 10, 2024
Court started with Zuma’s application for five of the judges in South Africa’s highest court to recuse themselves because of they were “tainted by bias”. In 2022, the court sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison on contempt of court charges.
News24 reports that in court today, Zuma’s advocate, Dali Mpofu, argued that Zuma believed his conviction and jail sentence for contempt was “the worst injustice ever meted out in democratic South Africa” and that his client felt he had been treated “worse than [former apartheid president] PW Botha of all people”.
Most of the argument for recusal turns on whether Zuma’s medical parole, granted just two months into his sentence, counts as part of his sentence served.
Zuma’s jailing in mid-2021 resulted in unrest, riots and looting, mostly in Gauteng and his KwaZulu-Natal stronghold. More than 350 died in the chaos.
Zuma is now contesting the upcoming 29 May national elections as the leader of the new uMkhonte Wesizwe (MK) party. However Jabulani Khumalo, the founder of the party, claims that he is still MK party president and that Zuma unlawfully and unilaterally axed him.
In addition, in an affidavit to the Constitutional Court, he has alleged that Zuma’s daughter Duduzile falsified his purported letter of resignation.
[WATCH] Adv. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi says the Constitutional Court should treat the IEC application with urgency and make a ruling on Jacob Zuma’s eligibility before the elections, otherwise it (IEC) won’t have any interest in the matter after the elections.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/OR3rrJ1bcs
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) May 10, 2024
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