The ANC suffered a major blow on Tuesday when it lost its case seeking the deregistration of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
And it’s not just about the legal arguments and the findings of the Electoral Court; the loss cut much deeper than that.
It’s for the history books that the MK name has ANC written all over it.
In February 2018, Jacob Zuma was sent packing from Mahlamba Ndlopfu and the Union Buildings and headed to his Nkandla homestead, having being pushed out after he lost the ANC presidency to Cyril Ramaphosa.
Since then, Zuma has been among the biggest critics of the ANC and government presided over by his former number two.
It came as no surprise when Zuma announced he would be campaigning for, and voting for, the MK Party.
His ANC membership has since been suspended, although he is yet to be expelled.
So, it must hurt badly for the ANC to be outdone by Zuma, using a name synonymous with the ruling party. It’s a fact that the case was never about the IEC breaking the law by allowing the MK Party to supplement its already rejected application.
The court found that there was no law suggesting the IEC was prohibited from allowing political parties to supplement applications, even if they were initially rejected, and that other parties had previously supplemented their applications.
The ruling party’s second challenge to the MK Party’s use of a logo and trademark, that it says is associated with it, will be in court on Wednesday.
But the ruling party now finds itself approaching the May 29 general election already wounded, just like it did when the then expelled Julius Malema founded the EFF two general elections ago, and is facing the prospect of slugging it out against its former leader on the ballot.
With that, the prospect of losing power for the first time since the dawn of democracy is becoming more and more real for the ANC under Ramaphosa.
Cape Times