The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), having recently approached the Electoral Court to contest the latest election results, has announced plans to take the matter to international courts over claims of election rigging.

This decision follows the Electoral Court’s rejection of the party’s request to invalidate the election results.

On Sunday, MKP leader Jacob Zuma stated that the party had directed its legal teams to take necessary actions both within and outside South Africa to ensure justice is served.

Zuma said: “I want to tell you what our legal person was telling me. The judges here who make judgments not based on facts are likely to tell you that this is all wrong. We are going to the international court so that this country does not have South African judges doing so.

“Judges who get angry and sentence you because they hate you. We are going to the judges who look at things and look at issues. We are going there to the judges that look at things and issues … For the record, the MK Party is of the strong view that the 2024 elections were rigged and that the results announced by the IEC are not a true reflection of the will of the people.”

Before the media briefing, the party claimed in its documents to have sufficient evidence of manipulated results. According to its research team, the results did not match the total number of votes.

Zuma accused the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and the Constitutional Court of ignoring substantial evidence of election fraud and manipulating the numbers.

Zuma said: “Before and after the results we have presented concrete evidence to the IEC showing widespread irregularities in the voting process and the voting system.

“It has all fallen on deaf ears. We have also tried peaceful means to address our grievances, but all in vain.

“We have even approached the highest court in the land but it rejected our pleas without even giving us a hearing and relying on technicalities while democracy itself is being destroyed. Such a legal system must be changed as soon as possible.”

Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing the MKP, highlighted the party’s numerous legal challenges over the past few weeks.

Mpofu said: “The MK Party has been involved in what I call an unprecedented 11 cases in a space of about three months. I do not think there is any organisation that has been to court this many times in a short space of time.

“In short, as you might know, from the 19th of March we were in the Bloemfontein Hight Court where we had been taken by the ANC to de-register the party. They failed.

“On the 27th of March the ANC also took us to the Durban High Court to fight over the logo and the trademark. They failed. In June.

“We pointed out the matter of irregularities in the results and the composition of the National Assembly to the Constitutional Court which was dismissed last week. Currently, there is an Electoral Court matter and that of the ATM where the MK Party is cited.”

Mpofu noted that the party had been successful in most cases, except for two cases before the Constitutional Court.

“In all of the cases the party has done well, except for those cases that are in the Constitutional Court, which dismissed both its cases.

“My final point is that we, as the legal team, are awaiting judgment on Visvin Reddy and Bonginkosi Khanyile … We have been asked as the legal team to look at ways in which to look at those matters both locally and internationally,” he said.

Despite complaints from opposition parties, including the MKP, regarding allegations of electoral fraud and vote rigging, the IEC has maintained its position, asserting that it fulfilled its role in ensuring that South Africans exercised their democratic rights.