Zuma pledges to deal with corruption at municipal-level

MK Party president Jacob Zuma at his brother's funeral assured the attendees that there would be a rerun of the 2024 elections (with the alleged “compelling evidence” they have) after the coming court case against the IEC. Zuma urged them to vote wisely this time. Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed/AFP

MK Party president Jacob Zuma at his brother's funeral assured the attendees that there would be a rerun of the 2024 elections (with the alleged “compelling evidence” they have) after the coming court case against the IEC. Zuma urged them to vote wisely this time. Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed/AFP

Published Jun 10, 2024

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MK Party president Jacob Zuma at his brother’s funeral assured the attendees that there would be a rerun of the 2024 elections.

Zuma said his party was still gathering compelling evidence in its case against the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) on alleged election fraud and vote rigging of the elections.

“When you vote, you must vote wisely because there will be an election rerun so we want you to make sure you vote wisely this time around,” he said.

He added that after his brother’s death, he is now left alone as the member of his family. Zuma also revealed that he has established a task team in five provinces to stop corruption in local government.

He said this task team will operate in five provinces: Eastern Cape, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng, with the aim of promoting transparency and accountability in local government.

“I have established a new structure, which I have mandated with fighting corruption within local government. This structure is called the ‘Presidential Provincial Task Team’ to stop corruption. This structure will promote transparency in five provinces which are KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape because there is a lot that we want to change in order to restore our country,” Zuma said.

On Monday, the MKP said the party has in their court papers evidence of “vote rigging” that prompted the party to call for the postponement of the first sitting of Parliament.

Speaking to The Star, MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the MKP has subsequently petitioned the Constitutional Court directly in their efforts to raise their concerns after the IEC dismissed their case.

“Our court papers have evidence detailing why the sitting should be postponed.

Our lawyers have been hard at work since last week gathering evidence,” Ndlhela told The Star.

This comes after the MKP wrote to the National Assembly secretary and Chief Justice Raymong seeking a postponement of the first sitting of Parliament, however, the party was informed that the sitting would continue as planned.

Ndlhela said this is the type of response that left the party with no alternative but to approach the Constitutional Court and ask the highest court in the land to postpone this first sitting, until the party’s grievances have been addressed in court.

“In defence of our people’s constitutional rights, the MKP will file papers with the Constitutional Court to interdict the swearing-in of party-nominated candidates as members of the National Assembly until our grievances, which are premised on allegations of election fraud and vote rigging are thoroughly addressed by the courts,” he said.

The party has since been alleging that there were election irregularities during the May 29 national and provincial elections.

Furthermore, MKP said they were denied the opportunity despite their sound and legitimate legal objections which they submitted in line with section 55 to the IEC, adding that Parliament’s response disregarded the party’s request by spearheading an “agenda” to proceed regardless of such concerns which are serious in their nature.

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is expected to announce the first sitting of Parliament this week. Justice Zondo will preside over the election of the Deputy Speaker and the Speaker of Parliament.

The Star