MK Party founder, Jabulani Khumalo dealt another court blow

Fired MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo has again suffered a legal defeat after his second attempt to form part of the party’s parliamentary list was dismissed. Picture: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers

Fired MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo has again suffered a legal defeat after his second attempt to form part of the party’s parliamentary list was dismissed. Picture: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers

Published Jun 13, 2024

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Fired MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo has suffered another legal defeat as his second attempt to be included in the party’s parliamentary list has been dismissed.

This comes after the Western Cape High Court on Thursday dismissed Khumalo’s application to interdict Parliament's decision to remove him as an MKP candidate to be sworn in as an MP.

Khumalo sought inclusion on the parliamentary list and hoped the court would rule in his favour. This occurred just a day before the first parliamentary sitting, scheduled to take place on Friday in Cape Town, Western Cape.

Khumalo filed the application on Tuesday after Parliament confirmed that he would not be on the list as he was not a recognised member of the MKP.

This is despite him being number one on MKP’s list to parliament. Khumalo has recently lost another legal battle over his being on the leadership team.

On Wednesday, the Electoral Court rejected his bid to be a party leader. It dismissed his case, with costs, following his attempt to have the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) record of former President Jacob Zuma as MKP leader invalidated and set aside.

In a document that IOL has seen, the court said: “For all the above reasons, the application also constitutes an abuse of this Court's process and a waste of its judicial economy and the opposing respondents' resources.

“They have incurred legal costs opposing an application that should not have seen the light of day. It would be unfair to leave the respondents out of pocket under these circumstances.”

The court said this was to send a message to the public for making false statements under oath and that abuse of the court's process would not be countenanced.

Meanwhile, the MKP “recognised” the leadership said would lay perjury charges against Khumalo for lying under oath.

“To that end, MK Party leadership has already approached its legal team with the intention to open a criminal case against Jabulani Khumalo for lying under oath.

“Concurrent with the court, we wish to send a message that indeed making false statements under oath and abuse of court process must be addressed sharply,” said in a statement.

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