President faces new revolt bid
Secret ballot seen as chance to oust Zuma
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma faces renewed attempts on different fronts to unseat him, with some ANC MPS preparing to vote against him if a secret ballot is allowed.
MP Mathole Motshekga said yesterday the president would be forced to resign at the party’s national elective conference in December if he refused to quit.
Several MPS said caucus sentiment had changed markedly from toeing the party line on a motion of no confidence in Zuma.
The ANC policy conference starting on Friday in Johannesburg is likely to be a dress rehearsal of the succession battle between supporters of Zuma and his chosen successor Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete had the power to institute a secret ballot.
Zuma told Parliament on Thursday he did not favour a secret ballot, turning the screws on Mbete.
Yesterday, some ANC MPS said they would vote against Zuma in a secret ballot despite the party instruction to back the president.
One said although there was a standing decision by the ANC national executive committee to support Zuma, that could change if a secret ballot were allowed.
“When the matter comes up, the party decision is there. It may be a different matter if there’s a secret ballot. I suspect a few people might vote differently.”
Another senior MP said there were bound to be new discussions in the caucus in the wake of the Constitutional Court decision.
“The new talk in the caucus on the court judgment is there because even some senior officials said there will be further discussions,” said the ANC MP.
Yet another long-serving ANC MP said the caucus would back Zuma.
“You are dealing with members deployed in Parliament on an ANC mandate. The situation should not even have come up. The national executive committee should have given guidance on this because it will cause tension,” he said.
“I hope the leadership will guide us because the situation on the ground is shifting against the ANC. If this is not addressed by December, the ANC will be damaged further,” he said.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu insisted that ANC MPS would toe the party line irrespective of whether or not a secret ballot was held.
He said the ANC would not support opposition parties’ bid to get rid of Zuma.
The secret ballot has become a proxy in the battle against Zuma and his preferred successor.
Yesterday, Motshekga said they would force the president to resign as head of state at the ANC elective conference in December.
“We said we would appeal for the president to step down. If he doesn’t, the conference will have no choice but to (do so).”
Motshekga was addressing the National Union of Mineworkers’ youth structure at Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg.
He said it was time to root out corruption.
“The December conference is for us to say looting must stop.”
Zuma this week told Parliament the ANC had elected him to power and he was fit to lead the country.
Asked whether the president was leading the party in the right direction, Motshekga told Independent Media: “All we are saying is that if we have a leadership that disregards the people, we can no longer have it.”
The alliance is so divided over the succession that Zuma warned the SACP appeared to be prepared to contest elections on its own.
The communists and Cosatu would prefer Ramaphosa to take over the leadership from Zuma.
On Friday night, the president told the Kwazulu-natal provincial council the party needed to discuss the culture of breakaways.
“We still have not sat down to find out what caused the challenges.
“Right now a breakaway is looming… when we talk about these things.
“Even Cosatu has breakaways. And the (SACP) looks set to follow suit. It is speeding towards breaking away,” the president added.