For the first time in our 30-year history of democracy, the disqualification criteria based on conviction and sentencing is a matter of a huge constitutional dispute ahead of the national elections, writes Mpumelelo Mkhabela.
The Electoral Commission (IEC) is entitled to appeal the Electoral Court's judgment that allowed Jacob Zuma to stand as a parliamentary candidate in the 29 May elections.
And had Zuma been disqualified, he too would have been justified to appeal to the Constitutional Court in the same way he approached the Electoral Court when the IEC upheld an objection.