No-confidence vote signals ‘High Noon’ for Zuma

JOHANNESBURG: Lawmakers of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) pledged to back President Jacob Zuma in a no- confidence motion in parliament later on Tuesday, a show of support that would thwart opposition efforts to force him to step down.

Zuma, who has held power since 2009, has struggled to fend off accusations of corruption and mismanaging the economy and if the vote was to carry, he would have to relinquish office.

The parliamentary speaker on Monday ruled it would be a secret ballot -- a decision the opposition hoped would embolden ANC members who are unhappy with Zuma to vote against him.

The ANC has 249 seats in the 400- seat parliament and the opposition controls 151, so it would take 50 ANC lawmakers backing the opposition to vote Zuma and his cabinet out.

The party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, is deeply divided and several ANC lawmakers have voiced criticism of Zuma.

But ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said that at a meeting on Tuesday before the parliamentary session, the party resolved to support him. Several ANC lawmakers left the meeting singing, he said.

“You hear the singing,” Mthembu told eNCA television channel. “Zuma was toyi-toying (dancing), that is what we do when we are under attack,” Mthembu said.

On the streets, however, protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and rocks in a show of opposition to Zuma before the vote. Earlier, markets had welcomed Speaker Baleka Mbete’s decision on the secret ballot with the rand, bonds and banking shares surging after Mbete’s announcement.