MK Party and IEC end legal dispute over Duduzane Zuma’s election remarks - News24

The MK Party (MKP) and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) have settled their latest legal dispute, withdrawing opposing applications before the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban over remarks by the party’s first deputy president, Duduzane Zuma, and youth league president Qiniso Cibane at a public event in Umlazi on 25 October.

It remains unclear what exactly Zuma and Cibane said at the event.

Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu said the remarks centred on allegations that the IEC had manipulated the 2024 election results, claims the commission denies.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said the party accepted that the courts had cleared the commission of wrongdoing.

“Although the MK Party and its leadership remain aggrieved about certain aspects of the 2024 elections, the party respects the outcomes of the relevant court processes, which absolved the commission. Any contrary impression is therefore regrettable.”

The party said it had investigated Cibane’s remarks, describing his engagements as “typically robust” but insisting he had never intended to impugn the commission’s credibility.

Internal measures had already been taken to counsel him to be more circumspect.

“He has readily accepted such counsel,” Mahlangu added.

The mutual withdrawal of papers brings an end to the litigation.

The settlement is the latest retreat in former president Jacob Zuma’s party’s stubborn campaign to overturn the May 2024 results that has failed at every judicial turn.

News24 previously reported that in the run-up to the 29 May 2024 elections, the MKP declared it was on course for a two-thirds majority, despite several polls and analysts saying otherwise.

As the elections drew nearer, the party also sought to discredit the IEC and spread disinformation about the electoral process.

A two-hour outage of the IEC’s results dashboard on the morning of 31 May 2024 became a major bone of contention.

The IEC said the system did not crash, and no data was compromised. The MKP insisted the “glitch” pointed to “irredeemable and material weakness” in IEC systems.

The IEC declared the 2024 elections free and fair on 2 June, but Zuma persisted with the false claim that the party had won a two-thirds majority.

On 10 June 2024, the MKP filed an urgent application in the Constitutional Court seeking to interdict Parliament’s first sitting, set aside the election results and order President Cyril Ramaphosa to proclaim a new election date.

The apex court dismissed the application on 12 June, ruling that the urgency was “self-created” and the party had failed to establish a prima facie case.

On 16 June 2024, the MKP applied to the Electoral Court to set aside the results and direct Ramaphosa to proclaim new elections within 90 days.

In July 2024, the MKP withdrew the application. On 25 October 2024, the Electoral Court granted the withdrawal, only for the party to launch a second case on the same day.

On 31 March 2025, the MKP filed a third court bid demanding fresh elections to overturn the May 2024 results.

On 24 June 2025, the Electoral Court issued a procedural ruling in the MKP’s reinstated challenge, dismissing the party’s attempt to compel the IEC to produce documents.

The Electoral Court, sitting in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, heard final arguments in the MKP’s challenge on 17 June 2026 and reserved judgment.

In September 2026, the Electoral Court reportedly delivered its judgment, dismissing the MKP’s application.

The now-withdrawn October applications added yet another chapter to the litigation between the party and the commission.

News24 approached the IEC for comment on the matter. The commission had not responded by the time of the publication of the story. Its comments will be added once received.

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