While the Constitutional Court has not yet said whether it will hear an application from the Electoral Commission challenging former president Jacob Zuma's eligibility to stand in next month's general election, the stage is set for tensions to rise between Zuma and the IEC -- and Zuma may now make this about the judiciary itself, and in particular Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

On Friday, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) confirmed that it was lodging an "urgent and direct appeal to the Constitutional Court" over the Electoral Court's decision allowing former president Jacob Zuma to be a candidate for uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) in the upcoming elections.

As was widely reported, the Electoral Court's decision came as a surprise and led to salient questions about how its judges came to the decision. For the moment, that is still a mystery as the court has not yet released its reasons.

MK, meanwhile, appears to be preparing to attack the IEC.

It has already called for IEC Commissioner Janet Love to resign, claiming that her comments during a press conference in January, in which she said Zuma would not be eligible to stand, showed she was biased.

While it is not entirely clear what will be argued at the Constitutional Court -- if it hears the case -- MK is likely to raise several preliminary issues that could create complications for the court.

It might well argue that the Constitutional Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

The party's media WhatsApp group has republished, with approval, a tweet citing a...