South Africa’s Zuma narrowly survives vote of no confidence
JACOB ZUMA, the president of South Africa, narrowly survived an attempt to remove him from office yesterday in a victory for the beleaguered ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
Of 384 parliamentarians who cast ballots in a no-confidence motion on Tuesday, 177 voted in favour of the motion to remove Mr Zuma from office, and 198 voted against it. There were nine abstentions.
The opposition has made several attempts to remove Mr Zuma from office, but this is the first vote to be conducted by secret ballot, after Baleka Mbete, the parliamentary speaker, announced on Monday that she would allow votes to be cast anonymously.
Mr Zuma addressed a cheering crowd outside parliament after the results were announced. “Once again we have proved that the ANC is the organisation of the people,” Mr Zuma said. “[The opposition] is pumping propaganda through the media that the ANC is no longer supported by the people.”
Mr Zuma’s critics in the opposition and within his own party say his administration is riddled with corruption and has failed to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans.
Opposition leaders were optimistic after dozens of ANC MPS supported the motion when given the opportunity to vote in a secret ballot.
“What was encouraging today was that, unlike in previous times, members of the opposition and members of the ANC stood together to say Zuma must go,” said Mmusi Maimane, the head of the opposition Democratic Alliance party.
The ANC said it would continue to address people’s grievances with the government.
“The ANC does not take lightly the public grievances around corruption and state capture,” the party said in a statement. “We reiterate that further investigation from all arms of the state including the judiciary must be conducted to unearth wrongdoing and the people responsible.”