Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe remarked that former president Jacob Zuma may follow a trajectory similar to that of DA's chairperson Helen Zille, being outside of parliament yet still holding influence within the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
Seepe reacted to the Constitutional Court ruling that Zuma will not serve in the National Assembly until five years of his sentence was completed.
He explained that this can only happen if there's no chaos on who should replace Zuma in parliament.
"Remember Helen Zille of the DA without being in parliament, even as we speak, she still wields a lot of power in the party," he said.
The ConCourt Justice Leona Theron handed down the judgment on Monday at the Constitutional Hill in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
The specific reason for this outcome was that Zuma could not be included in the MKP parliamentary list due to his conviction.
Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in the Estcourt prison in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in 2021 for contempt of court.
This is after he refused to appear at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry.
However, according to Seepe, the judgment was expected given that the justices "refused" to recuse themselves from the matter.
"The judgment says he will have to finish five years after being sentenced as stipulated by the Constitution. The judgment was expected once the justices refused to recuse themselves.
"Judges are not known for accepting that they may have erred. besides, it is clear from Zuma's statements that he had no intention of going to parliament," he said.
Zuma had launched a counter-application to have six justices removed when the court heard his matter with the IEC but it was dismissed.
He further said the sooner MKP explained that Zuma's priority was not parliament, the better.
Furthermore, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has made it clear that this would not change that Zuma will be on the ballot in the May 29 elections.
IOL Politics