The Constitutional Court is considering a petition on Jacob Zuma’s eligibility

South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal body, is expected to rule this Friday on an appeal by the Electoral Commission (IEC) on former president Jacob Zuma’s eligibility to run for public office, ahead of the decisive May 29 general election.

The Electoral Commission appealed to the Constitutional Court to try to prevent the former president from running in the elections, due to the 15 months in prison he received in 2021 for contempt of court for refusing to participate in the Capture Commission of Inquiry.

According to the Constitution, anyone sentenced to more than 12 months without the possibility of a fine is disqualified from parliament.

The CEI excluded Zuma from the list of candidates proposed by his new party “uMkhonto weSize” (MK) for the parliamentary elections in May, but the Electoral Court overturned the commission’s decision, allowing the former president to stand in the election.

Also read: South Africa: ANC postpones Zuma’s disciplinary hearing over fear of violence

The commission argues that the Electoral Tribunal erred in finding that the presidential pardon eventually granted to Zuma had the legal effect of reducing his sentence below the 12-month threshold.

The former head of state and former president of the ruling ANC party was released after only two months in prison.

His closure on July 7, 2021 sparked a wave of protests that quickly turned into violence and looting that shook South Africa for more than a week. Major cities such as Johannesburg, Durban and Pietermaritzburg have been ravaged by unprecedented violence and crime that took root in KwaZulu-Natal province and then spread to other parts of the country, including Gauteng, considered the most populous province.

This unprecedented violence caused more than 350 deaths and property damage estimated at more than three billion dollars.

This new hearing before the Constitutional Court therefore comes in a very tense context, especially since supporters of Zuma and his MK party have repeatedly threatened to resort to violence again if the former president is excluded from the next elections.

Jacob Zuma is currently facing 16 counts of fraud, corruption and racketeering for his alleged involvement in a corruption case related to an arms deal with the French company Thales. His corruption trial was repeatedly postponed for 20 years.

With MAP