Ordinarily, the decision by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to uphold the objection to the candidacy of former president Jacob Zuma shouldn’t raise any eyebrows. Section 47 of the Constitution is unequivocal: “Every citizen who is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of the Assembly, except anyone who, after this section took effect, is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine, either in the Republic or outside if the conduct constituting the offence would have been an offence in the Republic.”
Zuma was sentenced to undergo 15 months’ imprisonment by the Constitutional Court after it found him guilty of contempt for failing to comply with its order. But there is nothing ordinary about the incarceration of the former president by the Constitutional Court. Section 47 adds a proviso that “no one may be regarded as having been sentenced until