Johannesburg,South Africa

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa(IEC) and maintained that Jacob Zuma is not eligible for parliamentary seat.

It will be remembered that the IEC has took that matter to the highest court in the country followed the Electoral Court verdict which favoured Jacob Zuma to be included in uMkhonto weSizwe Party list of candidates which are eligible for parliament after the upcoming elections.

The ConCourt has clarified that the President of uMkhonto weSizwe(MK) Party does not qualify to be featured in this upcoming elections which are scheduled to take place on 29 May 2024 as he was convicted for the contempt of court in June 2021.

Three years ago,the ConCourt sentenced Zuma fifteen months in prison for his refusal to come before the State Capture Commission which was chaired by the current Chief Justice Raymond Zondo,however,Zuma only spent two months in prison.

Despite being disqualified for the parliament role but Zuma will appear in the ballot paper of his party MK Party and that alone will be disadvantageous for his opponents which includes political parties such as African National Congress(ANC) and Democratic Alliance(DA).

What will be happen to MK Party if Zuma is disqualified?

Zuma will continue to serve as the President of the MK Party even though he is not eligible to be a member of Parliament and his presence within the structures of the party will make his voice heard in the political spectrum of South Africa.

In the upcoming elections,the MK Party is expected to take away a huge number of voters from other political parties such as ANC,DA,EFF,IFP and many others smaller parties because its leader Jacob Zuma has big support base in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal,Gauteng and in other provinces.

The MK Party is eyeing to get at least a 2/3 of the voters during the elections and that is possible after seeing a five months old political party managed to fill-up a 40,000 seater Orlando Stadium in the past weekend on Saturday.

When Zuma will be eligible for Parliament?

Zuma will be legible to contest for parliamentary seat after five years but that will be less possible for him considering his health and age,as he is already 82-year-old.

He will qualify for parliament in the year 2027 and by that time he will be 85-year-old.