Court challenge: African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images
African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyo Zungula says despite the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party’s decision to withdraw its application to have the 29 May general elections declared unlawful and set aside, his organisation will press on with its own bid.
The ATM was not dependent on any other parties to continue its case, Zungula told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday, adding that the court was yet to set a date for the hearing.
He spoke the day after former president Jacob Zuma‘s MK party said it had delivered a notice to the electoral court withdrawing its application against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which it had accused of acting hastily and in violation of the will of the people by declaring the election results amid objections from some political parties.
ATM followed in the MK party’s footsteps in filing an application challenging the outcome of the elections and demanding a rerun.
In its founding affidavit, Zungula argued that the party had been “the victim of miscalculations, vote rigging and voter corruption”.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party was still of the firm view that the election results were not credible, free or fair.
For its part, the IEC argued that the MK party had made the claims without producing credible and admissible evidence to support them.
Last month, the constitutional court dismissed MK’s application to interdict the first sitting of parliament, saying the party had failed to produce “facts to establish a prima facie case in respect of the relief it will seek”.
This week, Ndhlela accused the IEC of failing to perform credible forensic audits of its election system, adding that the MK party had gained further evidence of election irregularities and vote rigging.
“We have, however, also been advised by our legal counsel that there are procedural and technical issues that will be further brought to the fore to present such evidence before the application can be adjudicated upon by way of a new application to set aside the election results and the declaration thereof by the IEC,” he said in the statement.
Ndhlela said the withdrawal was in no way an indication that the party did not have a compelling case and that it was determined to file papers.
“The experts that we have engaged continue to uncover further evidence of election irregularities that are so serious that it would be reckless to risk the application being dismissed on the basis of the IEC’s technicalities,” he said.