By Abiola Olawale
A South Africa Constitutional Court has granted an order barring the former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma from running for office in the National Assembly, a few days before the parliamentary election scheduled for May 29.
This comes just a day after Zuma led the uMkhonto Wesizwe party’s officials to unveil his election manifesto.
Delivering the judgment, the presiding judge of the Constitutional Court, Judge Leona Theron on Monday held that Zuma could not stand as a candidate in the May 29 election because of a past criminal conviction.
The judge ruled: “It is declared that Mr Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment for 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 have elapsed since the completion of his sentence.”
The court also ruled that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) was empowered on a decision to exclude Zuma, ahead of the elections.
The ruling was sequel to the decision of the IEC to file a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court on appeal from the Electoral Court.
The main case relates to whether Zuma is eligible to appear as a National Assembly candidate for the party after the IEC initially ruled that he was barred from doing so due to an 18-month conviction for contempt of court.
Section 47 of the South African Constitution states that a person who is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than months imprisonment or option of a fine is not eligible to be a member of the National Assembly.
The New Diplomat reports that Zuma resigned from the presidency in 2018 amid widespread protests over allegations of sweeping corruption within his government. Three years later, he was convicted and sentenced for failing to testify at a public inquiry on corruption.
Zuma’s attempted political comeback has created a big test for South Africa’s young democracy.
He became the first former president to serve prison time in post-apartheid South Africa after his arrest in July 2021, though he was released on medical parole just two months into his 15-month sentence. The Constitutional Court later overturned his medical parole, but Zuma then received a presidential pardon from his successor-turned-political rival, Cyril Ramaphosa.
