The Constitutional Court has reserved its judgment on whether former President Jacob Zuma can serve in the National Assembly.
The constitutional bench, containing nine justices, deliberated on this compound question during hearings that concluded on Friday.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) approached the apex court challenging Zuma’s eligibility fitness to be a member of parliament post the elections.
Last month, the Electoral Court ruled that Zuma would appear on the ballot for the provincial and national elections scheduled for May 29.
The court's decision was based on the fact that Zuma could not appeal the judgment of the apex court, which sentenced him to jail.
In 2021, the ConCourt convicted Zuma of contempt of court and sentenced him to 15 months in prison without an option of a fine for allegations of State Capture, Corruption, and Fraud in the Public Sector.
Zuma served an effective three months of his 15-month prison sentence and was released on medical parole on September 5, 2021, by the National Commissioner of Correctional Services.
Zuma served his sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.
On November 21, 2022, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that this process had been unlawful and ordered Zuma to return to prison.
The former president returned to prison on August 11, and on the same day, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola granted him and over 9,000 other prisoners a special remission of sentence due to prison overcrowding.
Presenting their arguments before the court, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said the Electoral Court’s ruling was wrong, hence the appeal.
He added that the court made a mistake to think that the remission would change Zuma’s sentence.
Ngcukaitobi argued that the court should urgently rule on their appeal before elections, suggesting that the IEC won’t have time to entertain it after the election.
He mentioned that, according to Section 47, Zuma is not supposed to be an MP.
Section 47 states that “anyone who, after this section took effect, is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine, either in the Republic, or outside the Republic if the conduct constituting the offence would have been an offence in the Republic, but no one may be regarded as having been sentenced until an appeal against the conviction or sentence has been determined, or until the time for an appeal has expired.”
Organisations in support of the IEC’s appeal, including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation made their arguments.
Zuma’s counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, argued that the IEC had no right to exercise Section 47 in this matter.
"Where does the IEC get the power to implement Section 47 to disqualify someone from parliament? The answer is nowhere," Mpofu stated.
He said Zuma's serving in parliament was not an urgent matter and perhaps should have gone to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Because of the remission, MKP argued Zuma could be serve in the National Assembly.
On May 8, the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party submitted its list of candidates for the National Assembly in the upcoming election, to the IEC.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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