The opposition’s best shot

Opposition parties at the forefront of the campaign to have President Jacob Zuma removed as head of state through the motion of no confidence vote tomorrow are growing in confidence and believe they have convinced enough ANC MPs to turn against their boss.

Opposition party leaders say the lobbying of ANC MPs will continue until the moment that the voting takes place.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa told the Cape Town Press Club last week that he had been informed that 67 ANC MPs had guaranteed they would cast their vote against Zuma, should the voting be decided on a secret ballot.

But he cautioned that he was not in a position to confirm these numbers and would rather wait until after the outcome to see if these numbers held true.

It was just a few weeks ago that Julius Malema’s EFF boldly claimed that it had the assurance of more than 60 ANC MPs who would certainly vote with the opposition.

In the recent past, it would have been easy to dismiss the opposition as being opportunistic in their boldness about the assurances that they have received from ANC parliamentarians, of all people, who are willing to sink their leader because they believe he had outsourced his power to the Gupta family.

The ANC is taking the threat of dissenting MPs voting with the opposition so seriously that the party’s chief whip, Jackson Mthembu, had to hold a press conference last Friday as though to remind his MPs of their duty to constituencies that ensured their place in parliament.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s delivery of boxes to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office containing 1 million signatures of citizens in protest to Zuma’s leadership is one campaign that definitely has the ruling party leaders sitting up and paying attention. This is for the simple reason that as a governing party and a former liberation movement, the ANC understands the magnitude, meaning and impact of such a campaign. It is not an easy accomplishment, more so for the DA as the opposition party. And with all the number crunching going on, it could all come to naught should National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete decide against a secret ballot. All parties are waiting for her announcement, which she could choose to make on the day of the joint sitting of the house. Of the seven motions of no confidence raised by the opposition against Zuma since he became president, it is this one that has caused the most consternation and uncertainty. The opposition are taking full advantage of ANC senior leaders berating the status quo and openly breaking rank. But either way, it is certainly a notable moment in the country’s political history and it has all the bells and whistles in the form of campaigns and protest action that precede the National Assembly sitting.