Let our X be our secret
Some of the best legal minds took part in argument, at times heated, whether there should be a secret no-confidence vote in parliament.
Some of the best legal minds in South Africa took to the stand yesterday to argue why there should – or shouldn’t – be a secret vote when it came to a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
Advocates Dali Mpofu for the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Anton Katz for the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Thembeka Ngukaitobi for the EFF, Geoff Budlender for the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) and Ishmael Semenya for Zuma were just some of the legal top guns in the Constitutional Court yesterday.
Outside, police kept razor wire on standby in case marchers against Zuma became unruly.
The court gave applicants an uninterrupted 10 minutes each for their submissions and those who wanted to be amicus curae (friends of the court) five minutes.
First up was Mpofu, who argued there was international precedent for parliaments to prescribe secret ballots.
“Do we want to protect the integrity of parliament? Yes, then we must have a secret vote,” Mpofu said, noting parliamentarians couldn’t give meaning to their oath if there was no secret ballot.
In the nearly two hours Mpofu spent answering questions from the justices after his 10 minutes were up, his encounter with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was one of the most bruising.
“Could it be that the drafters of the constitution, mindful of the principle of the separation of powers, wanted this arm of the state to bear the responsibility to decide how they would want a motion of no confidence to be conducted, because they knew they are the ones who will include a secret ballot elsewhere?
“Could it be that they left it to the National Assembly, whenever you people want a secret ballot, it’s up to you, whenever you think it should be by open ballot, it’s all up to you,” was just one of many interrogations Mogoeng launched at Mpofu and other representatives.
Advocate Marumo Moerane for Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete said in order for the applicant’s submissions to succeed, the parties had to show which constitutional obligation parliament had failed to fulfil.
He also laid the blame for the denial of a secret ballot at the National Assembly’s feet, saying it was the House which decided against it and noted nowhere in the constitution or in the rules of parliament was provision made for a secret ballot.
Semenya noted the ANC, through its constitution, had the power to punish offending members, as with any voluntary association. Similar provisions were to be found in the DA, EFF and IFP, argued Semenya.
Judgment was reserved.