The Council for the Advancement of the Constitution of South Africa (Kasak) and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation argued that the reduction in sentence did not cancel the sentence handed down by the court.
The legal consequences of an exemption are not the same as the legal consequences of an amnesty, said Advocate Nick Ferreira, the organization's lawyer who admitted to be a friend of the court in the IEC's competition appeal against the Electoral Court's decision. It has said.
The Electoral Tribunal has ruled that former President Jacob Zuma can remain on uMKhonto WeSizwe's (MK Party) candidate list for the next election.
Ferreira said remission only reduces the time served and does not change the sentence imposed.
“The effect of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pardon of former President Jacob Zuma’s sentence only constituted a substantial reduction in the sentence. This is contrasted with the legal consequences of a pardon, which does something different. It is easy to understand that a pardon retroactively changes the legal consequences of a conviction and sentence, effectively erasing it. There can never be an outcome that makes the sentence determined in part inapplicable.”
The IEC, on the other hand, argues that the Constitution does not distinguish between sentencing courts.
IEC consultant and barrister Thembeka Ngcukaitobi has ruled that the 15-month prison sentence handed down by the Constitutional Court cannot be appealed and that the Electoral Tribunal has allowed former president Jacob Zuma to remain on the Umkhonto wesizwe party list. The order was challenged.
He concluded that the Electoral Tribunal risked misjudgment and defeating its purpose.
“There is nothing in the Constitution that says there is a distinction between the judgments of lower courts and the judgments of this court. The proviso to that language does nothing of the sort. Number 2; this interpretation This undermines the authority of the Constitutional Court and produces absurd results. Thirdly, the purpose of this protection is to protect the people from lawbreakers, calling themselves legislators. It also protects the institutional integrity of Parliament,” Ngukaitobi asserts.
2024 elections | IEC contests Zuma's eligibility to vote:
