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00:00 Outside South Africa's highest court, members of Mkonto Wosiswe of the MK party
00:05 arrived singing and chanting in defiance.
00:08 Quickly, the verdict fell.
00:10 Jacob Zuma, South Africa's former president and the founder of the MK party,
00:15 was barred from holding office again.
00:17 While his name and face are already printed on ballots,
00:19 the court found that he cannot hold office if elected in May 29th's general elections.
00:25 Much to the frustration of his supporters.
00:28 But we are resolute, we will await direction from our leadership.
00:33 But as members of the party, we are very disappointed.
00:35 We are all disappointed of course, but President Zuma is on the ballot, this is academic.
00:40 For Zuma's supporters, the Supreme Court's ruling is based on a technicality.
00:45 For his critics, it's justice after years of corruption allegations.
00:49 South Africa's constitution bars anyone with an over 12-month conviction from being elected.
00:55 And Zuma was sentenced to 15 months of prison in 2021
00:59 for refusing to appear at a corruption inquiry.
01:02 He ended up serving less than three months, but the court found this irrelevant.
01:06 That sentence three years ago led to riots that killed over 300 people.
01:11 And now there are fears the ruling could create unrest again.
01:14 Zuma held a mass rally on Saturday
01:17 where he explained he would need a two-thirds majority to change the constitution's rules.
01:22 That is why we want to get an outright victory.
01:26 Because if we don't get the two-thirds, the opposition may stop us.
01:31 Polling at under 10%, the MK party is facing an uphill battle.
01:37 But it and dozens of other parties do pose a threat to the ANC.
01:41 In its most competitive election yet,
01:43 the ANC may be faced with having to turn to smaller parties to hold on to a majority.
01:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]