Attorney and Legal Director at the Institute of Elections Management Services, Nkululeko Tselane says Commissioner Judge Dhaya Pillay’s decision to recuse herself from deciding on Former President Jacob Zuma’s candidacy in the 2024 elections should be praised.
This as the IEC yesterday announced that Zuma will not be able to stand as a candidate of the MK party in the elections.
The Commission says it followed the constitution which stipulates that any person convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine is disqualified from standing for elections.
Tselane says Pillay’s decision was taken to protect the integrity of IEC.
“The Commissioner was an acting judge in the Constitutional Court when the former president was sentenced to his 15 months of prison for contempt of court. So of course, to protect the integrity of the IEC and to protect the integrity of the processes and as a legal professional, she then recused herself from only that particular decision with regards to the Jacob Zuma objection. She took the initiative and was aware of the potential backlash that might come and the perception.”
The MK party says it will study the Electoral Commission (IEC)’s decision that Zuma will not be able to stand as a candidate.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela says, “We’ve not received any objection on our end, and pending which we will communicate accordingly. I’m not aware of any such communications at this point. Naturally, it will be to assess what that objection is, get a sense, and get our legal team to look at it- if there is any basis for an objection, and then we can take it from there. So, I wouldn’t be in a position right now to respond to what the merits of that objection are- pending the outcome by the review from our attorney, we’ll then be able to respond accordingly.”
Meanwhile, the IEC says 31 objections were received from the public, alleging that eight candidates were not eligible to run for the ballot due to having a criminal record or a conviction.
Seven of these were dismissed.
