Johannesburg —

The Independent Electoral Commission has ruled that former South African President Jacob Zuma is ineligible to run in the upcoming election.

The commission said at a media briefing on Thursday that it supported opposition to Zuma’s candidacy in the May 29 election.

In July 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order investigating corruption allegations during his 2009-18 presidency. He was released on medical parole two months later and allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

South Africa’s constitution prohibits people who have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 12 months without a fine from holding public office.

Zuma angrily walked away from the judicial process as he and his legal team were questioned about widespread corruption allegations during his rule, including the role of the Indian family the Guptas, who allegedly targeted him Cabinet appointments are influential.

Zuma, 81, has until April 2 to appeal the commission’s ruling.

He is now the face of a new political party, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK), which has emerged as a potentially important player in South Africa’s upcoming elections after he denounced his previous ruling party, the African National Congress.

The new party is named after the former military wing of the African National Congress, which was disbanded at the end of the former apartheid regime’s white minority rule and apartheid policies.

Zuma’s announcement to leave the African National Congress was one of the notable developments ahead of the election.

His face appears on the MK Party’s election posters, and he is the party’s most famous figure and a key spokesman at election rallies.

His battle with the ANC has played out in some of the country’s highest courts, and the PPP scored a victory this week when a court rejected the ANC’s bid to deregister the party and ban it from contesting elections.

In a separate case, the ANC is challenging the MK party’s use of its name and logo, which is very similar to that of the ANC’s former military wing.

Local news outlet News24 reported that Zuma was involved in a car accident on Thursday but was not injured.