Electoral Court to hear MK party’s election challenge following IEC’s request

The Electoral Court has agreed to the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) request to hear uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party’s matter, challenging the results of the recent national and provincial elections.

This is despite former president Jacob Zuma’s party withdrawing its bid before the Electoral Court.

In a notice, the Electoral Court said the matter has been set down for a virtual hearing on Monday, 29 July 2024, at 9am.

The notice followed a request, on 5 July 2024, by the IEC for the election matter to proceed because the MK party made “serious allegations” about the credibility of the May elections.

“It is an absolute imperative that the matter is ventilated publicly and a final decision be made by the Electoral Court, at the least to confirm whether the allegations against the commission were made vexatiously and without just cause,” said the IEC’s attorney Moeti Kanyane in a letter to the court, according to TimesLIVE.

ALSO READ: MK party to continue court bid to nullify election results

Election results challenge

The MK party earlier this month said the withdrawal of its Electoral Court case against the IEC was not an indication that it doesn’t have evidence of alleged vote rigging in the national and provincial elections.

It said the fight to declare the election null and void was far from over.

“The MK party has now gained further evidence of election irregularities and vote rigging. We have, however, also been advised by our legal counsel that there are procedural and technical issues that will be further brought to the fore to present such evidence before the application can be adjudicated upon by way of a new application to set aside the election results and the declaration by the IEC,” said MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela at the time.

“The experts that we have engaged continue to uncover further evidence of election irregularities that are so serious that it would be reckless to risk the application being dismissed on the basis of IEC’s technicalities,” he said.

Court hearing

However, the IEC approached the Electoral Court with a request for the matter to still be heard.

The court has now granted this request in a notice issued on Monday.

“Be pleased to take notice that pursuant to the provisions of the rules of this court, the application has been set down for a virtual hearing Monday 29 July at 9am.”

It is unclear if the MK party will file its own papers.

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