Too many dirty little secrets

We’re still waiting without much hope on Baleka Mbete to “do the right thing” and let the no-confidence vote in President Jacob Zuma be done secretly. That said, a secret ballot is probably not a great idea. Mbete is likely to rule the vote must again be done publicly, but doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons is nothing to applaud.

Her reasons are likely to include the simple fact that if Zuma goes, our whole Cabinet of ministers and deputies will have to go with him. Obviously, that sounds like a great bonus but how we achieve that outcome should be nearly as important as simply achieving it.

Mbete will probably also be concerned about what might happen to her personally should she rule the vote must be done secretly and Zuma survives. That is a scary man, particularly if, like almost everyone in the ANC, you have a few smallanyana skeletons he happens to know everything about.

Saying I would like the vote to be open doesn’t mean I don’t want Zuma to go. I’ve been waiting for this waking Zuma nightmare to end for years. But he should be voted out openly, because that’s the least he deserves. Zuma needs to be able to look his Brutus in the eye as he is stabbed on the Senate floor (so to speak).

And if him being booted out is to be the start of a new and rejuvenated government, then that needs to happen with confidence.

The recent experiences of the DA and EFF in Mogale City should also give the opposition some pause for thought.

The former DA mayor was removed at the start of last month in a motion of no confidence that was conducted by secret ballot. The DA had opposed the vote being done secretly and the ANC had, quite rightly, accused it of hypocrisy. One of the opposition council members must have voted with the ANC because it only has 38 seats to the opposition’s 39. The DA apparently subjected its councillors to lie-detector tests to uncover the truth (which was ridiculous, by the way).

The troubles in that council have continued, since the opposition was confident the new municipal government would not be able to pass its budget and thus be dissolved – but then the EFF unexpectedly voted with the ANC. This enraged the EFF head office, which will now apparently be disciplining its members for voting with the enemy.

Those EFF councillors said they were merely “voting with their conscience” because they thought the budget was pro-poor and thus in line with the EFF’s objectives. It was then the EFF leadership’s turn to be accused of hypocrisy, as “voting with their conscience” is precisely what they’re asking ANC MPs to do against Zuma in the National Assembly.

All this secrecy in chambers that determine the fate of millions of South Africans cannot be good. We need representatives who know what they believe in and are willing to stand or fall for it – and be judged for it accurately by history.

The outspokenness of someone like Makhosi Khoza should not only inspire those ANC MPs who agree with her, but shame them in their continued silence. Treating MPs who want to do the right thing as if they are naughty children with a dirty little secret is simply the politics of the pathetic.