Jabulani Khumalo, the MK Party’s founder who was expelled, has no chance of winning back his position as leader of the party after the Electoral Court rejected his bid to be reinstated.
The court dismissed his case, with costs, following his attempt to have the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) record of former President Jacob Zuma as MKP leader invalidated and set aside.
In a document that IOL has seen, the court said “For all the above reasons, the application also constitutes an abuse of this Court’s process and a waste of its judicial economy and the opposing respondents’ resources.
“They have incurred legal costs opposing an application that should not have seen the light of day. It would be unfair to leave the respondents out of pocket under these circumstances.”
The order continued to say that a punitive costs order against Khumalo is the most appropriate way of censuring his conduct and “sending a message to the public that making false statements under oath and abuse of this court’s process will not be countenanced.”
Khumalo was expelled in April after the party said it was “cleansing itself.” He was booted out with the other four members.
According to the party, the move was a commitment to purify itself from rogue elements that would blur its lines to the two-thirds majority.
Zuma has now replaced Khumalo as the leader and face of MKP.
In other news, This week, President Cyril Ramaphosa opposed Solidarity NHI court application against the recently-ratified National Health Insurance policy.
Ramaphosa has since Solidarity’s position on the policy, officially gave notice that he will oppose Solidarity’s court application against the NHI Act.
The Minister of Health also expressed similar opposition after Solidarity, along with other political parties including the DA and pressure groups, slammed the recently ratified NHI policy as unconstitutional, unworkable, and unaffordable.
The battle lines has since been drawn following Ramaphosa’s decision to sign the bill into law just days ahead of the elections of May 29.
However, Solidarity and other parties opposed to the policy have said NHI deprives healthcare workers and users of choice, leading to less access to quality healthcare in the country.
Source-IOL
