Top court backs secret Zuma vote
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa’s highest court has paved the way for MPs to vote secretly in a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
Opposition parties celebrated the move as a ‘‘triumph for democracy’’ and the best chance yet of removing ‘‘toxic’’ Zuma from office.
Mogoeng Mogoeng, the chief justice, said that members should be allowed to vote with their conscience, and that Baleka Mbete, parliament’s Speaker, should set aside her loyalty as chairman of Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC) party if she thought that letting them do so secretly was in the best interests of the country.
The court said Mbete was wrong when she argued that she had no power to order a secret ballot.
Mogoeng, flanked by a full bench of the country’s most senior judges at the constitutional court in Johannesburg, said he was unable to order a secret ballot himself because it would ‘‘trench the separation of powers’’.
He gave a strong indication, however, that such a vote would be best, outlining at length the risk that ANC MPs, who are elected through lists drawn up by the party’s chiefs, could be intimidated, bribed or lose their jobs if they voted against the president - something widely reported to have happened in the past.
Mogoeng said lawmakers swore allegiance to the constitution and not their parties, and should exercise their powers accordingly.
While MPs risked being censured by their parties if they followed their conscience, the electorate was entitled to know how they voted, he said.
‘‘The correct exercise of parliament’s powers in relation to a motion of no confidence in the president must have the effect of ensuring that the voting process is not a fear- or money-inspired sham but a genuine motion for the effective enforcement of accountability,’’ Mogoeng said.
Bantu Holomisa, leader of the United Democratic Party, which with the other main opposition parties lodged the case, said a secret ballot represented a way out for many ANC MPs known to be deeply unhappy about Zuma’s conduct, who had been told to maintain unity at all costs.
‘‘We have given them an opportunity. They can use this secret ballot to say, ‘Baba, we have backed you so far but you must go now’,’’ he said.
‘‘They are swimming in the stew, and this could rescue them.’’
Zuma has survived two internal motions of no confidence and four such votes in parliament thanks to the ANC’s two-thirds majority.
Critics in his party and among the opposition argue that only a secret ballot could override the former spy chief’s extensive network of cronies and corrupt beneficiaries who are alleged to intimidate and bully politicians on his behalf.
Zuma, 75, said yesterday that a secret vote was unfair, telling opposition parties: ‘‘You are trying to get a majority you don’t have by saying ‘secret ballot’.
‘‘Jacob Zuma did not say, ‘I think I am a good leader’. He was elected by the majority of this country. That is a fact. That is a reality.’’
Last year the constitutional court found Zuma guilty of breaking his oath of office by refusing to pay back public money spent on his private home. This year he was widely condemned for sacking the respected finance minister and replacing him with a friend, prompting ratings agencies to downgrade South Africa’s bonds to junk status.
Opposition parties said they would ask the Speaker to schedule a motion of no confidence as soon as possible.
The ANC has told its lawmakers to oppose the motion. If it passed, the entire government would have to resign.
Zuma, who has been implicated in a series of scandals since taking office in 2009, is due to step down as ANC leader in December and as national president in 2019.
– The Times, Washington Post