MK Party's case to proceed, says Electoral Court

The case by the MK Party to set aside the election must be argued before the Electoral Court — despite an attempt by the party to withdraw it.

In a “notice of set-down”, the court said the MK Party’s application was set down for a virtual hearing on July 29. 

The notice followed a request by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on July 5 that the case proceed because the MK Party made “serious allegations” about the credibility of the election. 

“It is an absolute imperative that the matter is ventilated publicly and a final decision be made by the Electoral Court, at the least to confirm whether the allegations against the commission were made vexatiously and without just cause,” said the IEC’s attorney Moeti Kanyane in a letter to the court. 

The MK Party accused the IEC of “deliberate vote rigging”, “massive acts of fraud” and “manipulation of the result”. It asked the court to set aside the results and order the president to proclaim a new election date. The IEC responded that the MK Party’s claims were “patently false” and the party provided no evidence for them. It asked the court to dismiss the case.

On July 3, the party sent a notice to the court that it was withdrawing its case. In a letter on the same day, it said it was withdrawing its case “for now”. 

The party still believed the elections were not free and fair. “The withdrawal is in no way an admission that our client does not have a compelling case for the orders it seeks. The contrary is true,” said attorney for the MK Party Barnabas Xulu in the letter.  

The party had evidence of election irregularities, said Xulu. “We have, however, advised our client there are procedural and technical issues that need to be complied with to present such evidence before the application can be adjudicated upon by the court.”

The party’s experts also needed time to “prepare comprehensive reports involving a thorough assessment of the IEC results”. 

Two days later came Kanyane’s letter, saying the notice of withdrawal was irregular and asking the court to set down the case for argument.  

He said the MK Party had also not offered to pay for the wasted costs of the litigation, “which it was required to do”. In this case, a punitive costs order against the MK Party was warranted, he said. The party was also obliged to get permission from the court to withdraw the case because the court had issued directions in it.  

TimesLIVE