G’town group joins secret ballot fight

GRAHAMSTOWN civil rights organisation the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) will join the Constitutional Court fray to force a secret ballot in the upcoming vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC), representing the UPM, said yesterday the organisation had been admitted in the Constitutional Court as a friend of the court in the case launched by the United Democratic Movement.

The UDM’s application to force National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to conduct the vote of no confidence in Zuma by secret ballot will be heard on Monday.

The LRC said the UPM would argue that, properly interpreted, the rules of the National Assembly conferred a discretion on the speaker to permit votes to be conducted by secret ballot.

But the UPM also argues that while a secret ballot might appear in tune with the political climate, an order requiring secret ballots for all motions of no confidence might have unintended and anti-democratic consequences in the future.

The UDM filed the application after Mbete claimed that the rules of parliament did not permit a vote of no confidence by secret ballot.

She asks the court to make a finding on the constitutionality of the parliamentary rules.

The LRC said it would also represent the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac), which has also been accepted as a friend of the court.