Former President Jacob Zuma will not be able to participate in the next elections in South Africa, the electoral commission ruled on Thursday March 28, further raising tension two months before an upcoming election. perilous for the African National Congress (ANC), in power since the end of apartheid. South Africans go to the polls on May 29 to renew their Parliament, which will then choose the next president.
Former pillar of the ANC, a historic party in power for thirty years, Jacob Zuma created a surprise by announcing in December that he was supporting the recently created small radical party Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK, the spearhead of the nation in Zulu).
This announcement was a blow to the ANC which, according to opinion polls, is losing momentum after multiple corruption scandals and due to a gloomy socio-economic landscape. The party could for the first time lose its parliamentary majority and find itself forced to form a coalition government.
Call possible by April 2
According to the latest polls, the ANC is expected to win just over 40% of the vote in May, compared to some 27% for the leading opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) and 13% for the MK.
“In the case of former President Zuma, we received an objection which was upheld,” Electoral Commission chairman Mosotho Moepya said on Thursday. “The party which nominated him was informed, as were those who raised the objection,” he continued without specifying the reasons for the exclusion which can still be appealed. by April 2.
“We are examining the merits of this objection but we will of course appeal” before the electoral court, MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlhela has already declared to Agence France-Presse.
In the wake of its announcement, the electoral commission simply recalled in a press release that, according to the Constitution, "no person convicted of an offense and sentenced to a prison sentence of more than twelve months without the possibility of replacing the sentence by a fine” cannot stand for election.
Still prosecuted in several corruption cases, Jacob Zuma, 81, sentenced in 2021 to fifteen months in prison for contempt, cannot, theoretically, seek a new mandate, having already served two as president (2009- 2018).
His incarceration in July 2021 was followed by a wave of riots and looting unprecedented in the country since the end of apartheid, leaving more than 350 dead. He was released on parole after two months on medical grounds.
Change of name and logo
In recent weeks, Mr. Zuma has attempted to act as a disruptor in the campaign. Regularly calling ANC members “traitors”, he publicly called to “take back the country”, saying he no longer “recognizes the party” in which he fought against apartheid.
The ANC led the response in the courts, notably attempting to ban the MK party from participating in the elections. A first appeal, demanding that this new party be removed from the lists of those registered, was however rejected on Tuesday by a court which considered it insufficiently argued.
The ANC also demanded that the party supported by Jacob Zuma change its name and logo, denouncing a “theft of intellectual property and heritage”. Originally, MK was the name of the armed wing of the ANC during the decades of struggle against white power. The ANC filed an application for interim relief against “the illegal use of the ANC’s brands, symbols and heritage”. The decision is expected to be announced in the coming days.
The final electoral lists must be presented within a fortnight. In total, 82 appeals were received by the commission concerning candidates nominated by 21 parties.
