A spokesperson for the Umkhonto WeSizwe Party (MK Party), Nhlamulo Ndhlela, has said that the party plans to appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to overturn a court ruling preventing former South African President Jacob Zuma from contesting for the presidency in the upcoming May 29 election over his criminal conviction.
South Africa’s highest court, on Monday, disqualified Zuma from running in the election coming up next week due to his previous conviction in 2021 after he refused to testify at a judicial inquiry into government corruption.
However, drawing parallels with a similar case in Sri Lanka, Ndhlela expressed confidence in the possibility of a favourable outcome from the UN committee to overturn the court order, saying that it is not the end of the road for Zuma.
He said, “President Zuma doesn’t have to be President of the country if he doesn’t want to be, that’s the first point. What I’m also going to say to you is that there are other options, and those options are with the UN Human Rights Committee.
“There was a similar case in Sri Lanka where a court upheld a court order that led to a political leader in that country not being able to run for elections. And guess what, the United Nations Human Rights Committee overturned it, and he was able to run for elections. So, it’s not the end of the road for President Zuma.”
The spokesperson emphasised the party’s intention to challenge the ruling by highlighting issues within the current judicial system, which he said is biased and unrepresentative, as he criticised the reliance on Roman-Dutch law and the role of unelected judges in making decisions that significantly impact South Africans.
“We’re taking this matter to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to get it overturned. Let’s focus on the fact that we want to take the majority so that we can change this constitution that is based on Roman-Dutch law that doesn’t represent us. It is totally being abused continuously by judges that are not even elected by our people, and six of them who ought to have recused themselves, continue to preside over the matter.
“How is it possible that these 10 unelected judges make decisions that affect and infringe on the rights of South Africans, who, by the way, want their leader in the form of President Zuma to be in parliament? So, that’s just again, the nature of this system,” he said.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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