Citing untested allegations of widespread election fraud, former president Jacob Zuma's MK Party is now threatening to interdict the inauguration of the seventh Parliament.
The party previously threatened to boycott the first sitting, citing untested claims of widespread elections irregularities. Now it is threatening to interdict the first sitting to elect the president.
However, the the electoral laws and the permutations are such that even if MK Party members don't pitch and the ANC and other opposition party MPs do, the National Assembly will still be quorate and be able to go ahead with voting for the president, speaker and deputy speaker.
In a statement issued in the early hours of Monday morning, MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said they had decided to interdict the convening of the "unconstitutional sitting" of the inaugural session of the National Assembly.
On Friday 7 June, the MK Party's lawyers issued a formal demand to Constitutional Court Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and Parliament's secretary, Xolile George, informing them about the party's intentions to interdict the sitting.
In the letters, the MK Party's lawyers wrote to both Zondo and George, informing them that their client was aware they had received or handed over MPs lists, made public statements about
surrounding controversies, and "align[ed] with a particular and disputed interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Constitution".
