Political rivals, President Cyril Ramaphosa and MK party leader Jacob Zuma.
President Cyril Rmaphosa has taken a swipe at his political nemesis, predecessor and uMkhonto weSizwe party leader Jacob Zuma.
“The court has ruled. As I’ve often said, that’s the highest court in the land and we’ve given the judiciary the right to arbitrate disputes amongst us in terms of our Constitution. So they have come out with a ruling and I note that ruling and that is what it is,” Ramaphosa said after the Constitutional Court upheld the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) appeal and ruled that Zuma is not eligible to stand for election to the National Assembly.
Ramaphosa also said he is unfazed by threats of violence by Zuma’s allies who said they will subject the country to a banana republic should the MK party fail to topple the ANC and return Zuma to power after the provincial and national elections this month.
“I’m not concerned about this instigating violence. Former president Zuma should be the one person who should respect the rule of law. Should there be any threat of violence, our security forces are ready to deal with that and we will not even mince our words when it comes to something like that,” Ramaphosa added.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) confirmed that that Zuma’s picture will still appear on ballot papers for the 2024 national elections, his new political toy the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has rejected the Constitutional Court ruling.
MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said however Zuma will pursue all possibilities including approaching the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), to have the Constitutional Court ruling overturned after it disqualified him from participating in the National Assembly after the elections.
Ndhlela said however that Zuma’s allies weren’t surprised by the “flawed” judgment that was arrived at by six of the ten conflicted justices of the highest court in the land.
Ndhlela said: “The MK Party acknowledges the recent judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that president Zuma is not eligible to stand as a member of the MK Party in the National Assembly. This unsurprising decision, while disappointing, has not disheartened us. Instead, it has re-enforced our conviction that the current system, where just 10 unelected individuals can make lifetime decisions for 62 million people, is fundamentally flawed.”
Earlier, Ramaphosa labelled former ANC president Zuma and his crony former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule losers who will not emerge victorious after the general elections this year.
Ramaphosa was responding to Zuma and Magashule statements insinuating that the ANC has been rigging the votes in order to remain the ruling party in the country. Zuma publicly threatened the ruling party that if his new political party uMkhonto weSizwe doesn’t get a two-thirds majority vote then the country will be subjected to instability which will give birth to calamity. His ally Magashule echoed Zuma as well, saying that there will be no “vote rigging” now that he will be contesting the upcoming elections under his own party, the African Congress for Transformation (ACT).
The two former ANC senior leaders' public spats raised eyebrows of the masses which questioned the credibility of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
Magashule who was campaigning in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal who could not substantiate his claims when asked if the ANC had been rigging votes during his tenure as the party’s secretary general said: “We are going to win elections, we’re very confident. There is not going to be any rigging of elections. Our eyes are open because we know, I’ve been part of the ANC, and we know what’s going to happen. We, as black parties, have learned and we have agreed that we are not going to allow any elections to be rigged.”
Ramaphosa said Zuma’s claims are unbecoming and he remains perplexed that the man who participated in various elections could utter such bunkum. He urged Magashule and Zuma to refrain from spreading false anecdotes because they know that the IEC processes and systems are transparent therefore it will be disingenuous to think that vote rigging is possible. Ramaphosa known to his supporters as “The Buffalo” also warned Zuma and Magashule that South Africa is not a banana republic that will allow anarchism to threaten the right of the people as a democratic nation therefore those who think they can enforce a two-thirds majority vote undemocratically they won’t succeed with their selfish intentions.
“It smacks of the type of talk that losers will always want to accuse the process because they know that they are not going to be winners or successful. We trust the IEC system that is enshrined in our constitution in our laws. We will accept any outcome because we know that it is transparent. The IEC system is one of the best in the world therefore we remain adamant that there is no vote rigging,” said Ramaphosa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa unfazed by Zuma and his cronies.
Comentários