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The IEC Zuma decision and the democratic order

An election legitimacy calamity might be unfolding in South Africa. The IEC's decision to uphold Jacob Zuma's objection to being on the MK Party list, which is based on the facts and the applicable law, might be throwing a cat among pigeons. The basis of the decision is the contempt of court criminal case against Jacob Zuma. This is despite the raging debates in the legal community on the correctness of the law of the Khampephe decision to issue a jail sentence without an option of a fine for a civil case of contempt of court. 

The debate on the case includes the correctness of a court whose civil standing on the case is the legal issue to continue sitting on the matter. The legal question which a new generation of jurors, a distance away from the Zuma safaris with the criminal justice system, is to what extent is contempt of a civil case court criminal and what was the constitutional issue the Khampepe decision dealing with to warrant the criminalisation of the rights Zuma was pursuing. With no precedent of a similar case and presided over by jurists with impeccable credentials earned from a criminal justice system that specialised in the criminalisation of conscientious legal matters, the Khampephe decision might be an outcome of a contextual response which could, of necessity, be flawed in law in a different context. 


If Zuma appeals the IEC decision, it might be a review of the Khampephe decision, as there will be no case to argue except for the correctness of the decision. To the extent that the decision impugned Zuma's constitutional right to be elected to the National Assembly, the Khampephe judgement has become a constitutional issue. The criminality of conscientiously objecting to appear in front of a court you believe is incompetent to preside over your matter due to its bias towards you will be the case Zuma can argue to restore his rights as a citizen. 


The complexity of the case concerning jurisdiction, the legal issue, what laws will apply, and the urgency of it being heard before May 29 may throw the IEC program into disarray. At worst, the date of elections might have to be reviewed if arguments in court take too long. Like others, the case’s protractedness will be a social and political capital accumulation opportunity for Jacob Zuma and the MK Party. It may well play into his narrative that the ANC is persecuting him and, by extension, the MK Party. Zuma's appeal might problematise the constitutional order as it stands. He is on record for questioning the basis of our legal system, especially Roman-Dutch Law. 


The conscientious question for the democratic order is to what extent Zuma's quest to restore his rights will impact the fairness of the courts. The proverbial biblical lesson that only those born in the wilderness were allowed to enter Canaan might be instructive to any appeal by JZ. Access to media platforms for the MK Party campaign is now guaranteed. 

 

How the ANC handled its opposition to the use of MK by an amorphous, dispersed, and underground structures sophisticated group of disgruntled former ANC members has given the MK Party mileage it would have taken them months to get. MK Party is busy executing a propaganda strategy predicated on getting the ANC to respond in a way that gives them mileage. The rituals behind their campaign are intended to exude confidence about victory. Zuma is a carefully selected force multiplier with which his victimhood, a skill he has mastered, will be capitalised to sway an otherwise grossly disillusioned significant number of ANC supporters. The attention some of the ANC leaders give him has built an unnecessary enigma around him.

 

Notwithstanding, the MK Party knows it will not threaten the ANC in this specific election; it might be the ANC, based on how it reacted, that feels threatened. The best it can do is to disrupt the democratic order. MK Party has only secured a few seats, which is probably all they wanted. The ANC should now focus on winning this election, which they are winning and in control. The arc of voter sentiment is bending in favour of what the ANC stands for.  CUT!!!

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