The previous president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, cannot run for a seat in Parliament in the upcoming election after he was convicted of a crime in the past. The highest court in the South Africa made a decision that will likely cause more arguments before an important vote in Africa’s most advanced economy. Former allies of Zuma are being challenged by his new political party.
The Constitutional Court decided that the rule in the constitution that stops people who have been given a prison sentence of more than 12 months from running for Parliament also applies to the 82-year-old former leader. Zuma was sent to jail for 15 months in 2021 because he didn’t want to answer questions at a trial about corruption in the government.
The court said that Zuma cannot be a lawmaker for five years after he finishes his sentence. They made this decision nine days before the May 29 election.
Zuma used to lead South Africa’s African National Congress party but was told to leave in 2017. He also quit as president in 2018 because people thought he was involved in corruption.
He came back to politics last year with a new party and started criticizing the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa again. Ramaphosa took over as the leader of the party and president after him.
Zuma’s new party said in a statement that they are not happy about the decision, but it has not made them feel discouraged. They also did not agree with the court’s decision and the judges who made it.
The upcoming election in South Africa is very important, possibly the most important in 30 years. The ANC, the ruling party since the end of apartheid in 1994, is facing a big challenge.
The ANC is having a hard time keeping its majority in parliament, and the election could make it form a government with other political parties. That would be the biggest change in the country’s politics since apartheid was ended and everyone was allowed to vote.
The court decision does not stop Zuma’s party, the MK Party, from participating in the election.
Zuma is on the party’s election posters and is the main person in its campaign. The group in charge of elections in South Africa said Zuma’s picture can stay on the party’s election clothing, but his name won’t be on the list of people they want to run for office.
In South Africa, people don’t choose their president directly. Instead, they vote for political parties. Those political groups will have seats in the government based on how many votes they received. Lawmakers choose the president based on which party has the most members. Since 1994, the ANC has always been in charge, but this time, if it doesn’t get more than 50% of the votes, it will need to work with other political parties to stay in power and reelect Ramaphosa for another term.
Zuma’s MK Party could take away more of the ANC’s votes and make it difficult for the ruling party to stay in power.
Zuma still has a lot of people who support him. The court’s decision has made things more tense politically, especially after some MK Party officials said they would not accept any decision that stops Zuma from running for office.
Ramaphosa told Radio 702 that he did not think the decision would make people angry, but he also said that if there was any chance of violence, the security forces are prepared.
Since 1994, South Africa has been having fair and peaceful elections.
Zuma was not allowed to run for Parliament at first. He won the case at the Electoral Court after challenging their decision. Monday’s decision changed the previous outcome and confirmed that he is disqualified.
Zuma led South Africa for almost 10 years from 2009-18, but he resigned because the ANC wanted him to. There were claims that the government was very corrupt. He was asked to speak at a formal investigation about the claims of corruption, but he said no. That caused him to be punished for disrespect.
The sentence showed that Zuma still has power in some areas of South Africa. This caused a week of stealing and fighting in two provinces. More than 350 people died, making it one of the worst times of violence in the country since the end of apartheid. Zuma got out of prison early because he was sick after only serving two months of his 15-month sentence.
Zuma has been accused of doing something wrong in a different case that is about things he did before he became president. He is supposed to go to court next April for those charges and has said he did not do it.
Tag: Zuma
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Ex-leader of South Africa Zuma disqualified from upcoming election
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Zuma suspended by African National Congress after creation of new party
The ANC, the political party that Jacob Zuma was once in charge of, has stopped him from being a part of the party because he didn’t support them and started his own party.
The ANC made a decision on Monday.
Mr Zuma has a new party called uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which means “spear of the nation”. This party has the same name as the ANC’s old armed group that he used to be a part of.
He was president for nine years, from 2009 to 2018, and had a lot of problems with scandals and accusations of corruption.
The investigation found that the ex-president put his corrupt friends before his own country in a scheme called “state capture. ”
He is accused of being involved in a corrupt weapons deal from 1999. He says he didn’t do anything wrong in any situation.
In 2018, Cyril Ramaphosa became South Africa’s new President and said he would make the government better. He is now guiding a struggling ANC into this year’s national election.
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During the launch of MK in December, a statement was read on behalf of Mr Zuma. The statement said that he will always be a member of the ANC, but he won’t vote for it. He also said that some of the leaders of the ANC are not behaving in the way that the ANC should and now he wants to “rescue” the “once-great movement”.
Mr Zuma has said mean things about the person who took over his job, Mr Ramaphosa.
The BBC’s Daniel de Simone in Johannesburg says a lot of South Africans think that Mr Zuma symbolizes the problems of the recent past and has made the ANC look bad.
However, he has the support of a large number of people. Many South Africans got very angry and broke things when he went to jail in 2021. A survey showed that almost one out of every three South Africans like him.
It is still not certain if people will support his new MK party in the election, but it may take votes away from the ANC.
The ANC started fighting against apartheid and has been in charge of South Africa since the end of white-minority rule.
Mr Zuma, 81, had always been a member of the ANC.
At 17 years old, he joined the ANC without going to school. He moved up in the ANC’s military and intelligence groups. He also held important positions in Kwa-Zulu Natal and eventually became the deputy president and then the president.
Many people think this year’s election is the most competitive since the ANC became the ruling party in 1994. -
Police arrest famous anti-corruption activist in Bolga for extortion
In an effort to blackmail a businessman in Bolgatanga, police in the Upper East Region have detained a self-described anti-corruption activist, Tii-roug Yaro Zuma.
Tii-roug Zuma who doubles as secretary to a group called National Patriots Against Injustice and Corruption Ghana (NAPAIC-Ghana) is in the grips of the police for allegedly scheming to extort money from a businessman with claims of having in his possession a damming video that captured the businessman having sex with another man’s wife at a prayer camp which is close to a drinking spot.
In what various actors in the matter have said is his modus operandi, Zuma proceeded to narrate such claims to a bar operator who then called a meeting between him and the businessman to get the matter discussed.
Police in the Upper East Region have arrested a self-styled anti-corruption campaigner Tii-roug Yaro Zuma for attempting to blackmail a businessman in Bolgatanga.
He would be arraigned before the Bolgatanga circuit court on Monday, April 17, 2023.
Tii-roug Zuma who doubles as secretary to a group called National Patriots Against Injustice and Corruption Ghana (NAPAIC-Ghana) is in the grips of the police for allegedly scheming to extort money from a businessman with claims of having in his possession a damming video that captured the businessman having sex with another man’s wife at a prayer camp which is close to a drinking spot.
In what various actors in the matter have said is his modus operandi, Zuma proceeded to narrate such claims to a bar operator who then called a meeting between him and the businessman to get the matter discussed.
The said businessman who under the circumstance was Tii-roug Zuma’s target denied the allegations of having an affair with the said woman and called for the woman to be invited to the meeting together with her husband to watch the video Tii-roug claimed he had.
Reports further disclosed that the self-acclaimed anti-corruption campaigner bolted from the meeting venue leaving behind his sandals and motorbike when he sensed a looming attempt by affiliates of the businessman to accost him at the meeting spot.
Tii-roug demanded money from the businessman to prevent the video from being sent to the woman’s husband.
He was arrested by the Upper East Regional police command on Friday, April 14, 2023.
It will be recalled that the NAPAIC Secretary was interdicted by the Ghana Education Service on February 17, 2020, for fraudulently using his late brother Baba Zumah’s certificates to gain employment at Arigu D/A Junior High School in the West Mamprusi District of the North East Region.
Concerns have been raised amongst discerning residents of the region over his integrity as he continues to hold himself out as an anti-corruption crusader, speaking for several groupings with the latest being the National Patriots Against Injustice and Corruption Ghana (NAPAIC-Ghana).
Aside from his records of impersonation which led to his interdiction by the Ghana Education Service, one grave dark side which raises eyebrows is his several names on different documents which is believed to be used for questionable dealings.
He bears the name Baba Zumah on his educational certificates, Baba Zumah Yaro on his National Health Insurance card issued in 2008, and Teroug Zongbil Yaro Zumah when registered to contest assembly member elections for Tindongo-Sheaga in 1998.