South Africa's new Jacob Zuma party fights to keep him on the ballot

Barely an hour after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa announced on Thursday that former president Jacob Zuma would not be on the ballot on election day, his party said it is challenging the decision.

On Thursday evening, the IEC upheld an objection against Mr Zuma's candidature in the upcoming elections due on May 29. He has a criminal record with a sentence exceeding 15 months.

Read: South Africa bars Jacob Zuma from election contest

This means that Mr Zuma, among eight candidates who had been objected to by the IEC, is barred from contesting a seat in Parliament.

The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, however, announced that Mr Zuma was the number one candidate for the National Assembly, notwithstanding his criminal record.

"In the case of former president Zuma, yes, we did receive an objection, which has been upheld," said IEC's chairperson Mosotho Moepya during a media briefing on Thursday night at the commission's office in Centurion, Pretoria.

"We were unanimous. These are not matters we deal with that are personal. It is a provision of the law against which we must measure an objection, and it's straightforward. It is whether the person qualifies or does not qualify," Moepya said.

But Mr Moepya noted that the MK Party will remain on the ballot and contest the elections.

"The party is not disqualified. It's just a candidate in a particular party,” he added. “All parties and candidates that may be aggrieved about the decisions that the commission has taken today are required or have an opportunity to approach the Electoral Court. They have until April 2- and, once the court has received those, it will consider the matters and make its decision known [by April 9].”

Former African National Congress (ANC) president Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Constitutional Court in 2021 after being convicted of contempt of court.

Read: S.Africa's ruling ANC sues Zuma party

According to Section 47 of the South African constitution, any person sentenced to more than 12 months is prohibited from becoming a member of Parliament (MP).

"The effect of the objections brought against the former president has been dealt with. What we have done is to exercise the provisions of the law without fear, favour and without prejudice. Anyone who has been removed from the list, we will have reasons why we have done so,” declared IEC’s Moepya.

"We would have relied on the provisions of the Act or the Constitution, and we accept that we have a fundamental responsibility in exercising that role very carefully.”

However, Mr Zuma's increasingly popular MK Party spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndlela, stated that they don’t know the merits of the IEC’s decision to prohibit Zuma from standing as one of its candidates for Parliament.

“We are told there's an objection that was made, I have not seen that and in terms of what the merits of the objection are. But they allude to the 15-month sentence, which we will review. Where I am right now, whatever it is, we will appeal it,” said Mr Ndlela.