An African Court Decides That Jacob Zuma is Eligible to Run for Office

Tuesday’s ruling by South Africa’s Electoral Court overturned an earlier ruling that had prohibited former President Jacob Zuma from entering the polls and allowed him to run for office in the 2018 general election.

The move clears the way for Zuma to run for president on behalf of the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party, or MK, which he joined last year after distancing himself from the African National Congress party, which he had previously led.

On May 29, South Africans will choose 400 representatives to the General Assembly of the nation. The country’s president will be chosen by the members of the newly elected parliament one month from now.

Due to his criminal history, Zuma was previously declared ineligible to run for office by the Independent Electoral Commission, which made this decision after receiving an objection against his candidacy We are ecstatic at the court verdict because we have always said that President Zuma and the MK Party’s rights have to be upheld,” Ndhlela said. “What this basically means is that he will be our presidential candidate, and he will be in Parliament after the elections.”

Political analyst Dirk Kotze, from the University of South Africa, said Zuma was likely to use his court victory to promote his argument that the initial ban on his contesting the election was part of a political campaign against him.