The ex-president could be barred from taking part in the most competitive polls in post-apartheid history on May 29.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court will rule on an appeal challenging former President Jacob Zuma’s candidacy in this month’s election, a race that could tip the balance in parliament and determine the country’s next leader.
The Johannesburg court will hear an appeal by the country’s electoral body on Friday after a lower court ruled that Zuma could run for office.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had previously barred Zuma from taking part in the May 29 elections.
Zuma, 82, heads a new opposition party that has become a potential disruptor in the general election.
While his party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), is unlikely to win enough votes to return the former leader to the presidency, it could reduce the vote share of the dominant ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), and determine who will take over next leader of the country.
In the South African constitution, the president is elected by members of parliament.
The IEC had argued that the corruption-tainted politician should be barred from running in 2021 due to a contempt of court conviction.
Threat of violence
The eligibility trial against Zuma revolves around the interpretation of a constitutional rule that prohibits anyone sentenced to more than 12 months in prison from serving in parliament.
The ban expires five years after the sentence has been served.
The IEC argued the provision applied to Zuma. But Zuma’s lawyers said this did not apply to the former leader as his sentence was reduced.
It is now up to the Constitutional Court to decide the case, which experts say could take days.
The top court is the same body that sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison in 2021 after he refused to testify before a panel investigating financial corruption and nepotism during his presidency. The chairman of this body is now the chief justice of the court.
In their submissions, Zuma’s lawyers argued that he and another five judges who sat on the bench that sentenced their client should recuse themselves as “biased”.
If this were to happen, the court would no longer have enough members to hear the case.
The case came just weeks before what is expected to be the most competitive vote since the advent of democracy in 1994 and has left some observers nervous.
Zuma’s detention in 2021 sparked a wave of riots, riots and looting that left more than 350 people dead.
But there are fears the violence could be repeated and supporters of the former leader accuse the court of partiality.
“Zuma’s supporters have threatened violence again this year if things don’t go their way,” Zakhele Ndlovu, a politics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, told AFP.
In addition to the disqualification case, Zuma’s MK party is also under police investigation over allegations that it forged supporters’ signatures to register for the upcoming national elections.