Former South African president and Mkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) leader Jacob Zuma speaks at a press conference at the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) National Election Results Operations Centre in Midrand, South Africa, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party said on Monday it had instructed its lawyers to seek an emergency injunction from the Constitutional Court preventing parliament from going ahead with the swearing-in of new lawmakers and the presidential election next week.
In a statement, MK said it had taken the step after the parliamentary secretary “ignored requests” not to go ahead with the swearing-in of new lawmakers given the party's intention to challenge the results of the May elections in court.
The party did not explain the grounds on which it plans to contest the results of the election, in which it won 14.5% of the vote, but said it suspected “possible electoral fraud and rigging.”
“Convening Parliament while serious doubts remain about the legal legitimacy of the electoral process would be a betrayal of voters' trust.”
In a request submitted to parliament last week, lawyer Nqobile Zungu wrote: “We challenge the veracity of the outstanding objections and contents made by the MK party and other parliamentarians.
The political parties that represent the will of the people call this “market-based” declaration, and therefore the parliament and all its activities, unconstitutional.”
Zungu said 58 MK party candidates running in the National Assembly elections would boycott the election ceremony scheduled for next Monday.
They argued that this meant that anything that happened during that session, including lawmakers' election of the president, would be invalid.
“Legally, the absence of MK members means that the composition of 350 members required to legitimately constitute Parliament cannot be achieved, further invalidating the meeting whose purpose is to appoint the president and therefore the country's government,” MK reiterated in a statement.
Zungu said this was a separate legal requirement from “the quorum required for a duly constituted National Assembly” under Chapter 4 of the Constitution.
Zungu said if Parliament challenges MPs' interpretation of the constitution in this regard, the party will approach the courts for dispute resolution.
Responding to the demands of the MPs, Congress's chief financial adviser Zulaya Adhikari said the Assembly session would proceed as scheduled.
“I disagree with your interpretation and believe that the Parliamentary Secretary has a legal obligation to facilitate the first meeting of Parliament at a date and time to be determined by the Chief Justice,” she wrote.
“Accordingly, unless the court annuls the election results under Article 49(3) of the Constitution, Parliament must ensure that the meeting takes place as directed.”
Adhikari added that as the MK party has no plans to send any of its legislators to the Assembly, the Congress will withdraw subsidies for travel and accommodation expenses of its legislators.
“In light of your communication, we will be instructing our officials to cancel all accommodation and flight arrangements for your client's elected representatives to ensure that no wasteful expenditure is incurred in contravention of the Parliament and State Legislatures Financial Management Act 2009.”
