Top court bars former president Jacob Zuma from South African election
May 21, 2024
Cape Town [South Africa], May 21: South Africa's highest court ruled on Monday that former president Jacob Zuma cannot stand as a candidate in next week's general election on the grounds that a 2021 conviction for contempt of court has disqualified him.
The Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma's sentence of more than 12 months in prison had made him ineligible to stand.
His former party, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), suspended Zuma, 82, in January. He has since founded a new party, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and intended to stand as chairman of the party in the May 29 elections.
The Constitutional Court ruling reverses an earlier ruling by a lower court allowing Zuma to stand in the elections.
The elections are seen as the most significant since freedom fighter and later president Nelson Mandela led the country to democracy in 1994. Polls indicate that the ANC could for the first time lose its absolute majority and be forced to seek a coalition partner.
Under the constitution, the president is appointed by parliament and not directly elected. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune
