Zuma speaks of unfinished business as country awaits candidacy ruling

Former president, Jacob Zuma, has told MK Party supporters that he has unfinished business in the Presidency and should be allowed to run as president.

The matter was heard in the Electoral Court, sitting in Johannesburg.

IEC lawyers argued that those who have broken the laws of the country shouldn’t be allowed to be lawmakers.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi cited Section 47 of the Constitution, which prohibits individuals with convictions exceeding 12 months without the option of a fine from holding public office, when advancing that argument.

While Zuma only spent three months in prison for defying a Constitutional Court directive for him to give evidence at the Zondo Commission which was probing claims of corruption during his nine years in office, advocate Ngcukaitobi stressed the seriousness of Zuma’s initial 15-month direct imprisonment sentence.

Zuma’s legal team, however, argued that the former president was neither accused of, nor charged with an offence by a criminal court. The lawyers also say he was not afforded “fair criminal rights” in terms of the Constitution.

The IEC will publish the final list of candidates contesting the elections tomorrow.

Zuma says he has to make the cut on the list.

He cited his 2018 recall from the Presidency during his second term in office as a reason for his stance.

Addressing his supporters, the former president said he has never heard of a rule that prevents an individual from running for public office once they leave their former party.

The MK Party maintains that the IEC put the cart before the horse in its decision on Zuma returning to parliament.

Zuma’s presidency was marked by claims of high-level corruption, which is said to have collapsed some of the country’s state-owned entities and cost South Africa’s economy billions of rands.