Two expelled MK Party members have emerged victorious after the Cape Town High Court ruled in their favour on Wednesday.
Archbishop Sophonia Tsekedi and bishop Meshack Tebe, who are the leaders of All African Alliance Movement (AAAM), a church organisation that backed MK Party on its national election campaign, took Jacob Zuma’s political party to court. They challenged the removal of their names from the candidates’ list to parliament.
Duo expelled a day before the May elections
Tsekedi and Tebe were also expelled from the MK Party just hours before elections on May 28. They were fired by the party through letters sent to them by its former secretary general Sihle Ngubane.
The duo took the party to court. And on Wednesday, they emerged victorious as the Cape Town High Court had set aside the party’s move to get rid of Tsekedi and Tebe. The two were on the candidates’ list to parliament to represent Zuma’s party. And the court also set aside their expulsion.
Both leaders were number three and seven on the list of the MK Party’s candidates to parliament.
The court order initially stated that both AAAM leaders should be reinstated, and that their expulsion is null and void.
Party endorsed MKP and garnered votes for it
The AAAM, which is said to have a massive following, gave Zuma a launching pad when the MK Party was endorsed by the churches to support the party during its election campaign that saw it getting many votes across the country, making it the third-largest political party to be voted in the May 29 elections.
The judgment, which we have seen, reads in part: “The decision of the third respondent, Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party, to expel the applicants from the MK Party and remove their names from the list of candidates published in the government gazette to serve as representatives in the national assembly and provincial legislatures as indicated in the schedule is reviewed and set aside.”
Accused Zuma of using them and discarding them
Tsekedi, Tebe and other prominent church leaders were at the forefront to encourage voters to vote for the MKP. They also held a press conference last month, where they tore Zuma apart.
The duo accused him of betrayal. They stated that he got what he wanted and, after using them, he went to appoint other people to be taken to parliament. This after all the hard work they have put in the election campaign.
Jacob Zuma is a agreedy and selfish old man who
hold grudges and hate matamela Ramaphosa so
much because he is not Zulu and he is also a disruptive person who does not want progess.He
must just leave politics and rest or the least put his
daughter at the front to geoom her.
Politics and church don’t go hand in hand… Politics is a cruel game it’s like joining mafia or a gangster..The is no loyalty..I fail to understand why people get surprised about a dirty game…Grow up….Life is not fair.