South Africa's Top Court To Rule On Zuma Election

Faizan Hashmi Published May 20, 2024 | 03:50 PM

Johannesburg, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th May, 2024) South Africa's top court will rule Monday on whether graft-tainted former president Jacob Zuma can legally be barred from standing as a candidate in the country's May 29 general election.

The decision by the Constitutional Court could have deep implications on the result of the imminent vote, and observers fear violent unrest if the decision goes against Zuma.

Zuma left office in 2018, dogged by corruption allegations, and was briefly jailed for contempt. He has since founded a party to challenge his successor Cyril Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC).

The ANC has won every South African election since the country became a democracy in 1994, and Zuma served as the party's fourth president between 2009 and 2018.

But his era has become synonymous with the corruption allegations haunting the former anti-apartheid movement, and electoral authorities argue that Zuma's 2021 conviction bars him from the ballot.

Zuma and his new party, named uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) after the ANC's former armed wing, challenged that ruling and their case will come before the top court on Monday.

The court is due to make a judgment at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on whether "Mr Zuma (is) disqualified from standing as a candidate for the National Assembly".

After a South African general election, the president is chosen by MPs from among their own ranks, so if Zuma is not on the ballot he could not become president.