UPDATE | Jacob Zuma can contest elections, Electoral Court rules

• On Tuesday, the Electoral Court dismissed the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) decision to disqualify former president Jacob Zuma from contesting the upcoming elections.
• This means Zuma can contest the elections as an uMkhonto weSizwe Party candidate.
• Find everything you need to know about the 2024 general elections on News24's Elections Hub.

Former president Jacob Zuma can contest the elections as an uMkhonto weSizwe Party candidate, the Electoral Court has ruled. 

On Tuesday, the court dismissed the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) decision to prevent Zuma from contesting a seat in Parliament.

The IEC said he could not be a candidate because he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. 

The court has overturned the decision. 

"The appeal succeeds. The decision of the electoral commission of 28 March 2024 in terms of which the electoral commission upheld Dr [Maroba] Matsapola's objection to the second applicant's candidacy [Mr Zuma] is set aside and substituted with the following: The objection is hereby dismissed," it stated.

READ | 'I have unfinished business' at the Union Buildings, Zuma tells MK Party supporters outside court

On Monday, the IEC argued Zuma could not contest the May general elections, relying on Section 47 (1) (e) of the Constitution to disqualify him from getting a seat in Parliament.  

Section 88 of the Constitution states: "The president's term of office begins on assuming office and ends upon a vacancy occurring or when the person next elected president assumes office."

The IEC argued Section 47 precluded Zuma from becoming an MP because he was sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court.

The parties battled it out in court after the IEC decided to uphold objections to Zuma's inclusion on the MK Party's parliamentary list on the basis of his criminal record.

Matsapola and Bethuel Terrence Nkosi, who laid complaints against Zuma, were listed as the second and third respondents, with the IEC being the first.

Zuma is the number one candidate on the MK Party's list to Parliament. 

READ | Ramaphosa's remission of Zuma's jail sentence at the centre of legal blows in Electoral Court

Advocate Dali Mpofu told the Electoral Court Zuma's sentence was only the three months he served, not the full 15 months because he was granted remission of his sentence. 

Mpofu said Zuma was not convicted of an offence through criminal proceedings, including sitting in a trial and President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to grant him remission effectively reduced the 15-month sentence. 

"The point of the matter is that we all know that there was no trial, plea, or standing in the dock.

"This is the only person who sat in jail without being found guilty or not found guilty. It is Mr Zuma."

Zuma, who was granted the remission in August 2023, was jailed in July 2021 for defying a Constitutional Court order to appear at the Zondo Inquiry into State Capture. 

Mpofu told the court the IEC was biased because commissioner Janet Love failed to recuse herself from the decision-making panel.

This after she told a media briefing, legally, Zuma would not qualify on the basis of his conviction. 

READ | MK Party in court bid to challenge IEC's decision to bar Zuma from contesting elections

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, SC, who represented the IEC, told the court Section 47 of the Constitution was intended to ensure lawbreakers did not become lawmakers.

"What the Constitution drafters are trying to tell us is that serious lawbreakers should not be lawmakers; that is the purpose behind Section 47 [1] [e] of the Constitution," he said.

Ngcukaitobi told the court remission did not mean Zuma was not found guilty of an offence."Mr Zuma was found guilty of a crime of contempt. That is a conviction.

"It is irrelevant that this contempt came through certain processes. What is clear is that Zuma was convicted of a crime.

"Was this an offence? The answer is yes. Was there a guilty verdict? The answer is yes. Are we dealing with a convict? The fact here is that we are dealing with someone who has been convicted of a crime." 

READ | IEC acted 'within the purview of the law' in barring Zuma from elections - chief electoral officer

The IEC submitted to the court there was no bias in the case because Love had no control of the media headline, which was attributed to her statements.

The court heard she was merely stating Zuma did not qualify legally to stand as a candidate and the statement was not personal.

After court proceedings, Zuma told scores of MK Party supporters outside if he was elected to serve a third term, he would do so without hesitation. 

"If people were to say, 'Hey, boy, quickly go there', no one can stop me. They forgot that I did not finish my term; they removed me before I could complete my term.

"There is something that I need to go and take care of over there [at the Union Buildings]," he said.

"Over and above that, I was in government as a member of the ANC, and I have never heard them say that once you have left the ANC and started your own party, you have no right to be that party's president.

"These people don't know anything about us; they only read about us."

Zuma was recalled in 2018.