- Farhad Hoomer applied to register a new political party, The Islamic State of Africa to “bring back Sharia law”.
- The IEC has rejected the application.
- In a letter to Hoomer, the commission said it had received 233 objections.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has rejected controversial Durban businessman Farhad Hoomer’s application to have a new political party, the Islamic State of Africa (ISA), registered, citing a flood of objections and other reasons.
Hoomer - a previous terrorism accused who has been identified as the leader of a local ISIS cell and subjected to US sanctions - lodged the application in May.
He told News24 at the time that the party wanted to “bring back Sharia law” and was hopeful of contesting the 2026 municipal elections in eThekwini.
In a letter dated 30 June, however, the IEC informed him that his application had been rejected.
It said it had received 233 objections.
“At the heart of the objections are: (a) that the name of the party ‘closely resembles’ the name of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), which is associated with extremist and terrorist groups [and]; (b) that the ‘similarity between Islamic State of Africa and ISIS/ISIL incites fear, confusion and causes serious offence to the objectors and constituencies they represent’.”
Further, the commission said the objectors’ position was that the party’s ambitions of introducing Sharia law were “antithetical to the secular and inclusive nature of the principles underpinning the South African constitutional order and would cause serious offence to a section of the population”.
“The CEO exercises his powers independently of the existence of any objection to the registration of a political party. While the existence of an objection is not a jurisdictional requirement for the exercise of the CEO’s discretion, the CEO may not ignore representation that the registration of a party may cause serious offence to a section of the population. In the circumstances, the apprehension that the implementation of Sharia law by the party will cause serious offence on the grounds of religion, conscience, belief or gender appears to be grounded,” it said.
READ | From alleged terrorist to potential future president: Farhad Hoomer launches Sharia law party
There were also issues with the notice of application having only been published in a community newspaper serving Overport in Durban, which the IEC said was “not sufficient to create awareness”, as well as questions around the supporters’ signatures on the deed of foundation.
The IEC said they had “a discernible pattern which indicates that the signatures may have been made by a person/s other than the concerned voter/s”.
Against this backdrop, the commission continued, the party had not met the requirement, as per the regulations, of having the deed of foundation signed by “50 qualified voters, whose full names and identity numbers must be reflected against the signatures”.
In a statement issued under the name of secretary-general Mpho Abdullah, the party expressed its “deep concern”.
“As a potential party, we will be appealing the IEC decision based on fairness and the Constitution of which we as South Africans hold dearly to our hearts,” read the statement.
“We do feel disappointed but we won’t give up until we are successful”.
Hoomer was arrested in 2018 and charged in connection with a deadly attack at the Imam Hussain Mosque in Verulam, north of Durban.
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The following year, he was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition as well as possession of suspected stolen property, following a raid at a warehouse in Mayville.
However, the first case was struck from the roll in 2020 and the second was withdrawn.
In the interim, though, in early 2022 he was sanctioned by the US, after the Department of the Treasury identified him as “the leader of the Durban-based ISIS cell”, charging that he had been raising “funds through kidnap-for-ransom operations and extortion of major businesses”.
Hoomer has maintained his innocence.
In 2022, he told News24 that there was “no proof” to justify the sanctions against him and in May this year, he further insisted that he had “proven [his] innocence”.
