The Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) dispute over whether former President Jacob Zuma should serve in Parliament will be heard by the Constitutional Court on 10 May – just 19 days before the national and provincial elections.

The Electoral Court – in three separate judgments – on Friday finally outlined its 9 April decision to allow Zuma to stand for Parliament.

In directions issued yesterday, Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya set a tight timetable for the hearing of the urgent case, which will decide whether the court's contempt finding against Zuma and the 15-month sentence it imposed on him, disqualifies him from serving as an MP for the newly formed party.

A report on the IoL site notes that Zuma was barred from the list of candidates contesting the elections after he was sentenced to jail for 15 months for contempt of court in July 2021.

However, he was then announced as the face of MKP two weeks ago.

This is after the Electoral Court ruled that he will be on the ballot representing his party.

News24 reports that section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution disqualifies anyone who ‘is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12-months imprisonment without the option of a fine’ from serving in the National Assembly but adds that ‘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’.

Full News24 report

Full IoL report