In spite of confirming its withdrawal of its Electoral Court case, in which it had called for the recent elections results to be set aside, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party has said its latest move was no indication of its failure to prove its point that the elections were neither free nor fair.
On Wednesday, the party’s lawyers, JG and Xulu Incorporated, wrote a withdrawal letter to the court, saying it would no longer be challenging the status of the elections.
The MK Party had challenged the results amid allegations of vote rigging by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
“We confirm that today, 03 July 2024, we delivered a notice to the Electoral Court withdrawing our application. We indicated the application to challenge the conduct of the Independent Electoral Commission to declare the national and provincial election results was in haste and violated the will of the people. We are still of the firm view that the election results are not credible, free nor were they fair,” the party said in a statement.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party would provide reasons for its decisions in due course and that it remained firm in its belief that the elections were rigged to arrive at a particular outcome.
“Our reasons, in part, which we will demonstrate in our pursuit to take the matter further, is the failure by the IEC to perform credible forensic audits of its election system.
“After filing our application to set aside the election result, the IEC and its newly found ally, the Democratic Alliance, filed answering affidavits from which it is clear that the IEC wishes to have the matter dismissed as urgently as it declared the results based largely on technicalities,” he said.
Ndhlela said the MK Party had had enough evidence of electoral fraud and would be using another avenue to pursue the matter.
“The MK Party has now gained further evidence of election irregularities and vote rigging. We have, however, also been advised by our legal counsel that there are procedural and technical issues that will be further brought to the fore to present such evidence before the application can be adjudicated upon by way of a new application to set aside the election results and the declaration thereof by the IEC.
“The withdrawal is in no way an indication that we do not have a compelling case for the orders we seek. As the MK Party, we are resolute and will be filing papers as per the answering affidavit which brought about further evidence which strengthens our case against the IEC. The experts that we have engaged continue to uncover further evidence of election irregularities that are so serious that it would be reckless to risk the application being dismissed on the basis of IEC’s technicalities,” Ndhlela said.
He said the party would be filing a new application with the other courts as a matter of urgency.
“Given these circumstances and to further ensure that all the evidence in the possession of the MK Party is presented before the court in a manner that enables a fair adjudication of the matter, we have been advised that the application should be withdrawn for now. In light of this, the MK Party will be filing a new court case with the necessary courts as a matter of urgency,” said Ndhlela.
The Electoral Court has sentenced two MK Party members, Bonginkosi Khanyile and Visvin Reddy, to a fine of R150 000 each, suspended for five years, for breaching sections 81 and 82 of the Electoral Act on charges of inciting violence and riots before the elections.
Khanyile is alleged to have said that if Zuma was not allowed to be in Parliament, there would be war.
“If they removed the ballot of the MK, they removed President Zuma as the president as our face of the campaign, and try to take our right which is enshrined in the Constitution, there will not be elections in South Africa,” Khanyile is reported to have said.
Reddy is accused of promoting violence through a video circulated on social media where he allegedly warned of anarchy should the party be stopped.
“But we are sending a loud and clear message that if these courts, which are sometimes captured, if they stop the MK, there would be anarchy in this country. There would be riots like you have never seen in this country. There would be no elections. No South African will go to the polls if the MK is not on the ballot,” Reddy allegedly said.
The Star
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za