IEC acted 'within the purview of the law' in barring Zuma from elections - chief electoral officer

In an affidavit it intends to file in the Electoral Court, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will dispute allegations the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) had made in a challenge it lodged before the court.

The challenge relates to an IEC decision to uphold objections to Zuma's inclusion on the MK Party's parliamentary lists on the basis of his criminal record.

"Today the commission will be filing its answering papers in the Electoral Court related to the candidature of the erstwhile president (Jacob Zuma). The commission has maintained that it has acted within the purview of the law and the Constitution and that there is nothing untoward in the manner in which that objection was treated," IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said.