Publications
Partners
The vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma on Thursday will be held in secret, but what does this actually mean for the country?
Parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete announced at a press conference today that she had decided that Thursday’s vote of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma would be held in secret in the interests of transparency.
She acknowledged that the way the announcement was made was unprecedented – such announcements were usually made by press release, and she didn’t take questions from journalists.
Mbete said that the Constitutional Court indicated that a secret ballot would become necessary when the prevailing atmosphere was toxic or highly charged.
The court put the ball in Mbete’s court on June 22, when it ruled that as speaker of the assembly she would decide whether the vote was secret or not.
Mbete said the people of South Africa looked to Parliament to give direction during troubled times as well as for signals of hope.
“We must show responsiveness to our people. This decision is in the best interests of our country ... This decision is about putting the resilience of our democratic institutions to the test.”
Opposition parties – including the Economic Freedom Fighters, the Democratic Alliance and the United Democratic Front, who earlier this year led the fight to the Constitutional Court – had already consulted with their legal teams should Mbete have ruled against a secret vote.
The party leaders, sitting in front of the bust of Nelson Mandela outside Parliament, wholly welcomed Mbete’s decision. EFF Leader Julius Malema said that “we welcome the decision by the incoming acting president”, in reference to the speaker becoming acting president if the motion succeeds. Malema was seated next to DA leader Mmusi Maimane who said that the decision to grant a secret ballot “indicates that, working together, we can achieve more”.
City Press reported on Sunday that opposition parties claimed that they had secured enough votes to meet the 201 “yes” votes they need to remove Zuma. A list with names of ANC MPs favouring a vote of conscience was also circulating, although its veracity could not be established.
The party insisted that it did not oppose the vote being held in secret.
However, the ANC called for a three-line whip – compulsory attendance at a parliamentary sitting – and instructed all its MPs to vote against the motion.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said Mbete has left “this announcement to the last possible moment in order to make this about the secret ballot rather than Zuma”.
The motion, in effect, seeks to dissolve the entire executive.
On Friday, ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu said voting to remove Zuma would not only “collapse government”, but also cause “enormous fracturing” in the party and be tantamount to throwing “a nuclear bomb” on South Africa.
He said the ANC caucus discussed the motion with four of the party’s top six officials in attendance.
The caucus made it clear that it “would not be led by the opposition”.
MPs who have been vocal about the need for Zuma to resign have faced all forms of intimidation and threats, including that of MP Makhosi Khoza, who took to her Facebook page recently where she posted screenshots of an unknown number threatening to kill her.
“Vote against the motion and withdraw your statements and comments about the secret ballot. Do what is best for you and your family. You have 20 days left to live,” the message read.
Early this morning Khoza took to Facebook once again where she reiterated the call to “taking back our democracy”.
Tomorrow’s vote of no confidence was not a “silver bullet that will rescue our ailing country but it is the critical step that South Africa needs to start taking back our democracy. Our democracy has been usurped by a suffocating web of greed, corruption and patronage that has become the hallmark of the current ANC leadership,” Khoza wrote.
She said that as a loyal member of the ANC, the vote of no confidence was not “simple”, and “retribution would be swift and costly”.
“Supporting the vote of no confidence is not a vote against the ANC. It is a vote against the kleptocracy President Jacob Zuma has actively developed during his tenure as the leader of the ANC and president of the country,” Khoza said.
