Ex-South African President Jacob Zuma disqualified from parliamentary election
Former South African President Jacob Zuma was disqualified from running for a seat in Parliament in a national election because of a criminal conviction.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma was disqualified Monday from running for a seat in Parliament in a national election next week because of a previous criminal conviction. The decision by the country’s highest court is bound to raise political tensions ahead of what might be a pivotal vote for Africa’s most advanced economy.
The Constitutional Court said that a section of the constitution disqualifying people from standing for Parliament if they’ve been sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine does apply to the 82-year-old former leader. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2021 by the Constitutional Court for contempt for refusing to testify at a judicial inquiry into government corruption.
Zuma cannot serve as a lawmaker until five years after that criminal sentence was completed, the Johannesburg-based Constitutional Court said. The ruling came nine days ahead of the May 29 election.
Zuma once led South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party but was forced out as its leader in 2017 and resigned as president in 2018 under a cloud of corruption allegations.
He returned to politics late last year with a new party and renewed his fierce criticism of the ANC and current President Cyril Ramaphosa, the man who replaced him as both party leader and the country’s president.
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