Jabulani Khumalo, the ousted founder of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, asserts he has a prima facie right to be sworn in as a member of Parliament this Friday.
He expressed concern that being denied this right would affect his constituency’s representation in the House.
On Thursday morning, Khumalo informed the Western Cape High Court of his plans to appeal Wednesday’s Electoral Court ruling, which rejected his allegations of being fraudulently removed as party leader.
As the founder and initially registered leader of the party with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Khumalo argued he deserved to be an MP.
Advocate Mfesane Ka-Siboto highlighted that Khumalo’s expulsion is not central to the urgency of the current legal matter.
He explained that Khumalo resorted to court action on Thursday after learning only last week from Parliament that he had been removed from the party’s list of designated MPs.
Contrarily, Advocate Thabani Masuku, representing MK and its leader Jacob Zuma, insisted that the crux of the issue was indeed Khumalo’s expulsion.
Masuku contended that Khumalo had forfeited any right to a parliamentary seat by no longer being a party member.
Furthermore, Masuku dismissed the urgency claimed by Khumalo, noting his expulsion had occurred in April.
He also stated that the Western Cape High Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the second part of Khumalo’s application concerning his expulsion, as it happened in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ka-Siboto mentioned Khumalo had initially hoped to resolve the issue within the party.
The hearing is ongoing.
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