Dali Mpofu says ANC’s case should be referred to IEC commissioners

uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, says the Electoral Court lacks jurisdiction to deal with the ANC’s application to review the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) decision to register the MK Party.

He says the decision to register the MK Party was not reviewable by the court; it should have been referred back to the IEC commissioners.

The is truly what is at the heart of the ANC’s case against the IEC’s decision to register the MK Party.

I'm neither a supporter of the ANC nor of MK Party (or any political party for that matter), but it is prudent to point that the ANC has no case here.

Bloemfontein pic.twitter.com/IkGUIKCfw1

— Lindo Ntuli (@Ntuli_Lindo_) March 19, 2024

HOW CAN THIS COURT EVEN REACH THE MERITS: MPOFU

“The Electoral Court may review any decision of the commission. Is there a decision of the commission before this court? No,” said Mpofu. He said the ANC’s challenge was “misconceived” and that it should be dismissed by the court with costs. 

Mpofu says the ANC’s application is a desperate political reaction was directly linked to former president Jacob Zuma’s endorsement of the MK Party.

“Absent the statutory boundaries of the jurisdiction of the court, how can this court even reach the merits? Is there a decision of the commission? No,” he said.

Mpofu said that what was worse was that the commission made a decision on the 24th of November, and that decision was left alone knowingly. He said the ANC could only approach the Electoral Court directly after exhausting internal appeal measures available through the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

‘GO THROUGH PROPER APPEAL CHANNELS,’ DALI MPOFU TELLS ANC

“If the ANC not only understood but implemented the structure of the act that you cannot run straight to court, you have to go via the commission as the statutory appeal mechanism, which is what they did in relation to the trademarks issue,” Mpofu said.

He said the ANC’s actions were directly linked to former president Jacob Zuma’s endorsement of the MK Party. The ANC had previously contested the registration of the MK Party, arguing that the IEC had not followed the correct procedures when it registered the MK Party.

The issue was allegedly resolved after the MK Party made corrections, which supplemented its application in September. It was eventually registered in September 2023.