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Former South African president Jacob Zuma has been disqualified as a candidate in South Africa's general elections scheduled for May 29 due to his criminal record, the Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Friday. Zuma, who was recalled by his own African National Congress (ANC) in February 2018 for refusing to step down, was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2021 by the highest judicial body in South Africa, the Constitutional Court after he earlier walked out of hearings at the Commission of Enquiry into State Capture. The ANC recalled Zuma after huge public outcries about his alleged closeness to the now self-exiled Gupta family who looted billions from state-owned enterprises such as Eskom. These entities are now financially crippled, leading to embattled electricity supplier Eskom being unable to meet the power needs of the country and the rail infrastructure inoperable. The Guptas are believed to be in Dubai and South Africa is seeking their extradition to face trial here. Zuma
South Africa's top court on Friday rejected former president Jacob Zuma's application to rescind his 15-month-jail sentence for contempt of court. Zuma handed himself over in July after the Constitutional Court found him to be in contempt of court for repeatedly refusing to return to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, where several witnesses have given details of his alleged role in a number of issues relating to the looting of state departments and parastatal organisations. In a majority judgement of the Constitutional Court, Judge Sisi Khampepe dismissed 79-year-old Zuma's application of rescission with costs. Commenting on Zuma's conduct, Khampepe said that he had wilfully refused to participate in litigation and then reopened the case when it suited him. The majority emphatically reject any suggestion that litigants can be allowed to butcher of their own will judicial process which in all respects has been carried out with the utmost degree of regularity, only later