Grave need for soul searching :

WHEN the face-saving has passed‚ the ANC has some serious soul searching to do.

A big celebration party was held outside parliament last night after the motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma failed. But it was a mop-up operation rather than a celebration of victory.

Zuma arrived to big applause and thanked his supporters for defending the ANC.

He said his detractors had tried to use technicalities in parliament to take over from the ANC.

But it was not a vote for or against the ANC‚ as Zuma would like people to believe.

An estimated 34 ANC MPs rebelled against the party line to vote in favour of the motion.

They could do so because of the anonymity Speaker Baleka Mbete granted them by allowing the vote by secret ballot in the National Assembly.

So there are two questions the ANC leadership must ask.

Why did Mbete grant the secret ballot‚ apparently against the wishes of the party leaders?

Why did more than 30 MPs defy the instructions of their party leaders?

As Zuma’s supporters in the caucus staggered out the National Assembly‚ some were shocked at how close the vote was.

Only 21 votes separated the “Yes” and “No” votes – and the eight abstentions narrowed the margin even further.

Some were angry at their colleagues for “betraying” the ANC.

Make no mistake‚ the foundations of Luthuli House – the ANC’s headquarters – have been rocked and Zuma will have been shaken by the outcome of the close vote.

The facade of a united party that closes ranks in troubled times has been shattered.

The message to ANC members – across South Africa – is that they no longer have to keep up the pretence that they are united behind the party leadership.

There will no doubt be a witch-hunt to find the rebels within the ANC.

But as the state-capture network unravels and Zuma becomes more of a dead weight in the party‚ sentiment will continue to swing away from his faction.

The heat is on Zuma – in the ANC national executive committee and now in parliament – and it is only a matter of time before his fiefdom collapses.