Ball in Mbete’s court
SPEAKER of Parliament Baleka Mbete will have very little reason or grounds not to allow for President Jacob Zuma’s fate to be decided by secret ballot when the matter comes before Parliament.
This was the view of constitutional law experts and commentators reacting to the Constitutional Court’s judgment which confirmed that the Speaker of the National Assembly can decide if voting in such motions should be by secret ballot or not.
While the court said it was for Mbete to decide how voting should be conducted, her decision should be based on sound and rational reasons.
Reading the unanimous decision of the court, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said the power that vests in the Speaker “belongs to the people and must thus not be exercised arbitrarily or whimsically”.
“Due regard must always be had to real possibilities of corruption as well as the prevailing circumstances and whether they allow members to exercise their vote in a manner that does not expose them to illegitimate hardships.
“Whether the prevailing atmosphere is generally peaceful or toxified and highly charged, is one of the important aspects of that decision-making process,” he said.
Phephelaphi Dube, director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said: “In the court papers she herself argued she was open to a secret ballot but she did not know whether the rules allowed her to decide.”
Analyst Bukani Mngoma said if the Speaker were to decide not to grant the secret ballot, she would have to provide reasons and these may be challenged in court by opposition parties.
“The court has prescribed the factors that have to be taken into account. I think it did so because it does not want the matter coming back.”
The EFF has already warned that should Mbete make a “not rational” decision the party would take it on review.
“Her reasons must be very sound and based on the law,” said EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Lawson Naidoo, of the Council of the Advancement of the South African Constitution, said: “We hope that the Speaker will now weigh up the factors in this case… and ensure she places the constitution, and her duty to it, ahead of any responsibility she has to her party, the ANC.”
In his blog Constitutionally Speaking, constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said the judgment meant the Speaker would normally be required to allow a secret ballot, as it would not be easy for ordinary members of a majority party to hold the leader of their party accountable by supporting a vote of no confidence in the president, premier or mayor if the vote was not secret.
De Vos said there might be circumstances where it would not be appropriate to have a vote of no confidence by secret ballot, such as if there was a “delicate balance of power in a chamber which would make it easier to bribe members of the legislature to support a vote of no confidence”.
Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo yesterday reiterated that Mbete had no opposition to the use of a secret ballot, saying she had sought clarity on whether she could decide on such.
“Now that the court has clarified that the Speaker has the powers under the constitution to conduct motions of no confidence by way of a secret ballot, she will ensure the judgment is given effect,” said Mothapo.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said Mbete was obliged to uphold her oath of office in whatever decision she made. DA leader Mmusi Maimane yesterday wrote to Mbete asking her to schedule a motion of no confidence at the earliest possible opportunity. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said Mbete should use her discretion in deciding whether to allow the use of a secret ballot on a motion of no confidence in Zuma.
Zuma told MPs, in a question and answer session, yesterday that he did not support a secret ballot and there were no convincing reasons put forth to request one.
“How did we vote in the seven (motions of no confidence in the past). Why this time we do it differently? My view is that we have to do what we have done in the past.”
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma yesterday said he was not stepping down and argued against a motion of noconfidence in him being held by secret ballot.
“I’m fit and doing it very well,” Zuma said while answering questions from opposition MPs in the National Assembly.
“My political office was made by the ANC and the day it thinks I can’t be president it would remove me, and it has not done so… ”
Zuma referred to a judgment by the Constitutional Court earlier in the day which placed a decision on whether a vote of no-confidence would be held by secret ballot in the hands of Speaker Baleka Mbete.
“I see no convincing reason why you should change. In the manner in which we have done before, it has not been secret. We have instruments, why don’t we use it?
“You are trying to get a majority you do not have,” Zuma told opposition parties. Zuma said the ANC would retake the municipalities it lost to opposition parties last year.
“In 2019 the ANC will win again because you don’t have the majority. You can try, you can do everything, you can go to court, the court will bring you back to the legislature… that’s my answer.”
Rejeted
Zuma also rejected a question by Cope MP Willie Madisha who asked him whether he would respond to a call by the SA Council of Churches for fresh elections because the current government had lost its moral compass.
“The fact that the government or whatever has lost its moral whatever, that is not the view of the majority. The ANC was voted in by a huge majority since 1994. What he [Madisha] says is a creation that is being created in the minds of people like himself because they are in opposition.”
Zuma insisted that he has never assisted his son Duduzane to get lucrative contracts from government and its entities, lashing out at DA leader Mmusi Maimane for “singling out” his child.
Maimane had asked Zuma whether he was ready to concede that he has failed other youth, while helping his son along in his business ventures.
Zuma scoffed at the questions, saying unemployment was not caused by his son and his business interests: “I’m saying it’s unfair to the young man.”
An unperturbed Zuma said countries that have been downgraded to junk status managed to get their economy back on track.
He told MPs yesterday that the South African economy would pick up, despite the recent downgrades by ratings agencies. – ANA and Siyabonga Mkhwanazi