May 20. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Constitutional Court of South Africa has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma cannot stand as a candidate for Parliament in the elections this month, which is expected to deepen the political crisis between the ruling party and the former president.
The Constitutional Court thus endorses the veto decreed by the Electoral Commission on Zuma, sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt in the framework of a corruption investigation, according to public television. The South African Magna Carta prevents people sentenced to more than one year in prison from being part of Parliament.
The party to which Zuma now belongs, uMKhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), which takes its name from the dissolved paramilitary wing of the government African National Congress (ANC), alleged that the former president had been convicted on a civil matter and not criminal and, therefore, could participate in the elections.
Zuma’s arrest in 2021 already triggered a wave of protests with more than 350 deaths, although he was released in less than two months for medical reasons and received a pardon from the current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, in November 2023. .
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