South African electoral court rules that Jacob Zuma can contest elections
South Africa’s Electoral Court this Tuesday ruled that former President Jacob Zuma can run for office as a lawmaker in the upcoming election, overturning an earlier decision that had barred him from contesting the polls.
Last month the electoral commission barred him over a contempt of court conviction. It argued the constitution prevented people from holding public office if convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.
South Africa’s constitution does not allow people who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine to stand for elections as lawmakers. Zuma was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in 2021 for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission probing corruption allegations in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.
The 81-year-old Zuma has been campaigning for the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party. A former stalwart of the governing African National Congress (ANC), he is a controversial figure and served as president from 2009 until 2018, when he had to step down because of corruption allegations.
He was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2021 for failing to testify in a corruption investigation, though he only served three months on health grounds.
The ruling could have a significant impact on the outcome of next month's election. Zuma is the face of a newly formed MK opposition party, which is named after the ANC's former military wing. The ex-president sees himself as the true heir to the revolutionary roots of ANC, once led by Nelson Mandela. His court victory means he can now run as the MK's leading candidate.
Rather than voting directly for a president, South Africans elect members of the National Assembly. The head of whichever party can muster a majority is likely to become the country's leader, though it could put forward another candidate.
The ruling will also be a blow to the ANC, which after 30 years in power, faces a potentially bruising election. For the first time since the start of the democratic era in 1994, the ANC's vote share could fall below 50%, several opinion polls predict. Recent polls put the ANC on just more than 40 percent of the vote with the main opposition Democratic Alliance on about 27 percent and the MK party on 13 percent.
The MK party is seen as popular in Mr Zuma's home region of KwaZulu-Natal.