Zuma survives no-confidence vote
KRISTA MAHR
JOHANNESBURG — South African President Jacob Zuma again survived a no-confidence vote in parliament Tuesday in the most serious attempt yet to unseat him after months of growing anger over alleged corruption and a sinking economy.
Zuma had survived six previous attempts to dislodge him in parliament, but this was the first to be held by secret ballot after parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete on Monday made the surprise decision to allow it. Opposition parties hoped it would encourage disgruntled legislators with the ruling African National Congress party to vote against Zuma.
Instead, ANC members in the chamberbegansingingshortlybefore the vote results were announced and soon broke out in cheers, while party supporters gathered outside started dancing.
“We reiterate that we will never endorse or vote in favour of any motion that seeks to cripple our country,” the ANC said in a statement issued immediately after the results were announced.
The head of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, Mmusi Maimane, had urged lawmakers before the vote to take their country back. “This is a historic day. Indeed, since the dawn of our democracy the stakes have never been higher,” he said.
Widespread frustration over Zuma has hurt the ANC, the former liberation movement that has led South Africa since the end of white minority rule and the first all-race elections in 1994.
The ANC holds a majority of the 400 parliament seats, and the party had repeatedly said its members would not support the oppositionled attempt to unseat the president.
The party has 249 parliamentary seats, five of which are currently vacant, said a party spokeswoman, Nonceba Mhlauli. The no-confidence motion needed 201 votes to succeed. The draft of the motion submitted by the Democratic Alliance accused Zuma of “derelict leadership” and said the president has “lost all sense of rationality and sound judgment,” harming the country’s economy and its poorest citizens.