MKP adamant that ‘biased’ IEC commissioner’s ‘compromised’

The Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party and its leader former President Jacob Zuma remain adamant that IEC commissioner Janet Love displayed bias towards Zuma, in submissions sent to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.

The Concourt on Friday asked the MK Party, Zuma and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to provide written submissions over statements made by Love by 5pm on Tuesday, in a matter that is set to determine Zuma’s eligibility to stand for public office.

MK Party lawyers argued before the court last week that Love was biased after she said the former president would not be eligible to stand for public office due to his 15-month sentence meted out by the Constitutional Court.

The apex court put seven questions to the parties, including whether Love ought to have refrained from expressing a view on Zuma’s eligibility, whether she ought to have recused herself from participating in the IEC’s determination of the former president’s eligibility and what effect her participation would have on the IEC’s determination of Zuma’s eligibility.

MK lawyers argued that Love made a premature announcement in relation to the disqualification of Zuma when probed on the matter during a press briefing.

The party’s head of elections Musa Mkhize on Tuesday said that they wrote in their submission that Love was biased and she should be removed from the electoral body.

He said Love had publicly declared that Zuma would not be eligible and could not be included in the MK Party’s parliamentary candidate list and that had compromised her impartiality.

“Nothing has changed, in our submission to the court we are still calling for her resignation because she has (not) proven to be impartial as she did not follow the rule of law.

“Love made a predetermined statement regarding president Zuma and this was in direct violation of the established IEC rules which stipulate that such declarations can only be made following an official objection.”

Mkhize said that all the party wanted was a free, fair and democratic election on May 29.

IEC national spokesperson Kate Bapela said yesterdayon Tuesday that the electoral commission would submit the court papers as per deadline.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo had previously responded to the call by the MK party for Love to resign by saying that the party had not submitted any substantive evidence establishing that there was misconduct on Love’s side.

The IEC earlier this year said that it had received more than 80 objections to the candidacy of parliamentary nominees from several parties and eight of those candidates, including Zuma, were found to have criminal records.

Zuma was declared ineligible to stand as a candidate and the MK Party approached the Electoral Court.

Two days before candidate lists for the May 29 elections were to be certified by the IEC, in line with the election timetable, the Electoral Court set aside its decision upholding an objection to former president Jacob Zuma’s candidacy based on section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution.

On Friday, advocate Dali Mpofu, arguing for Zuma, said that Zuma’s eligibility was not for the IEC to decide but for the National Assembly to debate in line with provisions in the Constitution.

“The Constitution says that the National Assembly may determine and control its own orders and its business with due regard to its representatives. The real separation of powers is this one. It is where an institution of democracy such as the IEC can never have the power to intrude into the exclusive domain of the National Assembly when it doesn’t have the authority to do so.

“The first sitting of the National Assembly must swear in its members, elect the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and then elect a president,” Mpofu said.

The Mercury