S.Africa’s Court dismisses case to deregister Zuma-led party

African National Congress (ANC), the famous and ruling political party, lost its case in the electoral court seeking to deregister the newly launched uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party.

The court said the governing party had not made a case for why the Jacob Zuma-led party must be deregistered.

It found the ANC’s contention that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) broke the law by allowing the MK party to supplement its already rejected application “holds no water”.

There is no law suggesting the IEC is prohibited from allowing political parties to supplement applications even if they were initially rejected.

The court found other parties had previously supplemented their applications.

It dismissed the ANC’s contention that the application’s rejection meant that the MK party had to start the process afresh.

The court ruled that it read the Electoral Act, and as long as an application was before the party’s leader, he should register the political party.

uMkhonto we Sizwe is a political party founded in December 2023. It is named after a paramilitary wing of the same name as the ANC during the apartheid era. Former President Jacob Zuma is the de facto leader of the MK Party.

Also, in December of 2023, Zuma announced his withdrawal of support from the ANC after being a member for over 60 years.

He stated, “I have decided that I cannot and will not campaign for the ANC [Ramaphosa, current president] in 2024.