By Kouthar Sambo
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK party) has instructed its lawyers to file papers in the Constitutional Court to prevent the swearing-in of National Assembly members. Additionally, the party criticized the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) as they garnered doubts about the commission’s method of capturing voting results.
Speaking on VOC’s PM Drive on Monday, a political analyst, Dr Levy Ndou, deemed the matter as “unfortunate.”
“The swearing of MPs does not just happen as certain prophesies must unfold, and there is consensus that the next step has to follow. There was an era of campaigns, the era of elections, the era of declaring elections, and now it is another step where the swearing in of MPs will unfold,” outlined Ndou.
“In my view, this could be an element of not understanding processes, or it could be where the MK is taking a deliberate position to disrupt the democratic process that has taken place. It could also be an element of wanting things to be done in a particular manner,” remarked Ndou.
It is a matter of time before a few members of the MK party will join their colleagues in parliament, explained Ndou, because if there is nothing tangible, according to him, he does not see why parliament will not proceed with its business.
He further responded to the MK party’s claims on evidence of alleged irregularities that were detected within the IEC. Additionally, the IEC has approximately over 500 objections around the capturing of voting results that were leveled against it.
“These bold claims by the MK party regarding the IEC and capturing of results will have to be proven. Unless the party brought forward something new, which will convince anyone to change the election results, such exercises could be futile,” warned Ndou.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has announced that the president and speaker of the National Assembly will be elected on Friday, 14 June (2024), at the Cape Town International Conventional Centre (CTICC). Zondo will oversee the first sitting of the National Assembly, where members will take their oaths and elect a speaker. The National Assembly will witness the swearing-in of members of Parliament.
Stay tuned to VOC’s PM drive as we bring you the latest developments on this on Friday, 14 June!
Photo: Pixabay
