Speaker pushed into a corner
Analyst says she has no option but to allow secret vote
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has no option but to allow a secret ballot.
This is the view of political analyst Somadoda Fikeni, who yesterday said Mbete would have to come up with a very good reason why a secret ballot can’t be allowed.
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court ruled that Mbete had powers to decide whether or not a motion of no confidence should be by secret ballot.
“She has little space not to adopt a secret ballot unless she comes with a superior reasoning of why a secret ballot can’t be allowed,” Fikeni said.
The court ordered that Zuma and Mbete pay the legal costs of the parties that brought the application – led by the UDM. Sowetan understands that the legal fees could costs the taxpayers more than R1-million.
EFF treasurer-general Leigh-Ann Mathys said taxpayers would be paying for Mbete and Zuma.
“Normally, these bills are in the veracity of like [a] million [rand] or something depending on how many applicants and senior counsel were used,” she said.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said he was not “stressing” himself about the high legal bill. “You see, when you hire legal people who are patriotic, normally they don’t ask you for money to be [paid] upfront,” Holomisa said. “We are still going to get the bill.”
Of the judgment, Holomisa said: “You must understand that the speaker is conflicted, so her lines are a little blurred. We can’t understand why she was protecting Zuma.”
Holomisa added that the judgment meant the threats which have been used by Zuma and others, against ANC MPs, can be nullified.
“Those MPs are free to vote and follow their conscience.”
Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota said the threats that had been issued against ANC MPs no longer had a place in the country’s democracy. DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said South Africans now have the opportunity to remove a “toxic” president who was destroying the country.
The opposition parties are also calling for a total shutdown in SA on the day of the motion of no confidence vote.