MK party intends opening criminal case against Jabulani Khumalo

Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) said it intends to open a criminal case against its expelled former leader Jabulani Khumalo for “lying under oath” in the Electoral Court.

This comes after the Electoral Court on Wednesday dismissed Khumalo’s application to be reinstated as leader of the MK party

Khumalo asked the court to declare his expulsion invalid and unlawful and set aside an Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) decision removing him and recording Zuma as president of the party.

Zuma leader of MK

MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party welcomes the decision by the Electoral Court.

“This ruling, which dismissed Jabulani Khumalo’s case with costs, and confirmed that Jabulani Khumalo committed a criminal act of perjury by lying under oath, decisively ends the controversy over the legitimate leadership of the MK party.

“More crucially, it affirms the party’s position that there is no question that President Jacob Zuma is the rightful leader of MK Party and Mr Khumalo was just a messenger who later got avaricious. This judgment underscores the lengths to which the enemies of the poor, led by the Ramaphosa gang, will go in their attempts to weaken us,” Ndhlela said.

ALSO READ: Electoral Court dismisses expelled Khumalo’s MK party leader bid

Legal action

Ndhlela said the MK party has consulted its lawyers to take legal action against Khumalo.

“Notwithstanding the court’s stern stance against Khumalo’s abuse of court processes, which led to the court imposing punitive costs on Mr. Khumalo, the worrying the criminal action of lying under oath, therefore perjury, which the court has found.

“To that end, MK Party leadership has already approached its legal team with the intention to open a criminal case against Jabulani Khumalo for lying under oath,” Ndhlela said.

Forged signature

In his application, Khumalo had claimed Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla forged his signature and sent a letter to the IEC  requesting it to change the MK party’s particulars by removing his name and replacing Zuma as the party’s leader.

The MK party denied the allegation and stated that Khumalo signed the letter in dispute on April 9 at a meeting in which Zuma-Sambudla and other witnesses were present.

The court dismissed Khumalo’s application with a punitive costs order, ruling the MK party and the IEC had demonstrated that Khumalo had perjured himself in his affidavits.

“He alleges that Ms Zuma-Sambudla is not part of the MKP leadership. Yet on February 24 2024, he advised the commission by way of a letter that MKP has appointed the ILC [interim leadership core], listing Ms Zuma-Sambudla as one of its members,” the court said.

MK party ConCourt blow

Meanwhile, while the MK party was celebrating the victory against Khumalo, it was dealt a blow after the Constitutional Court dismissed  the party’s urgent application to interdict Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and Parliament from proceeding with the first sitting of the new parliament on Friday.

Zuma’s MK party filed the urgent application at the apex court on Tuesday.

The MK party sought for direct access to the ConCourt, which it argued in papers had “exclusive jurisdiction” to decide on its two-part application to interdict Parliament’s first sitting from going ahead on Friday, and included an attempt to overturn the outcome of the national and provincial elections.

Judgement

In a judgment late on Wednesday night, the Court concluded that neither the decision nor conduct engaged its jurisdiction in terms of Section 167(4)(e).

“Additionally, it is not in the interest of justice to grant direct access as the impugned decisions or conduct first arose between 1 and 2 June 2024, to the knowledge of the applicant. However, despite this knowledge, the applicant only launched the application on 10 June 2024.”

“The applicant has failed to show any justification for not bringing this application sooner when it was aware of the constitutional requirements to convene the National Assembly no later than 14 days after the declaration of the election results. In the circumstances, the urgency is thus self-created,” the judgment read.

The apex court’s judgment added that the MK party did not make a case for the granting of an interim interdict as it didn’t show that it will suffer irreparable harm if the interdict is not granted, nor that “the balance of convenience favours the granting of the interdict.”

Additional reporting by Chulumanco Mahamba

ALSO READ: ConCourt dismisses MK party’s urgent bid to halt Parliament