Zuma faces secret MPS’ vote on his future

JACOB ZUMA, the South African president, will face a vote of no confidence today by secret ballot, a move which increases the chances that he may have to step down.

The motion, which will mark the seventh attempt by opposition parties to remove Mr Zuma from office, comes amid mounting public concern over the president’s performance.

It was first tabled by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) after Mr Zuma ordered a cabinet reshuffle in March and sacked the country’s respected finance minister, prompting the nation’s credit rating to be downgraded to junk.

Baleka Mbete, the parliamentary speaker and a long-time Zuma ally, said yesterday that she had decided to allow a secret ballot “to use this opportunity to show responsiveness to our people”.

“This decision is about putting the resilience of our democratic institution to the test,” said Miss Mbete.

Her announcement was welcomed by opposition parties, which had been fighting for the vote to take place in secret so that members of the ruling Afri- can National Congress (ANC) party were free to “vote with their conscience” and not face repercussions for voting against the party leader.

“The ball is no longer in the courts of the opposition parties only,” said Bantu Holomisa, head of the United Democratic Movement opposition party. “All that is needed now is for the ANC MPS to listen to the people. Do they want to be on the side of the people, or do they want to protect President Zuma?”

If the vote succeeds, Mr Zuma, in power since 2009, and his cabinet would have to step down. Previous motions have failed, but they were held through an open voting process.

The ballot needs 201 out of 400 parliamentary votes to succeed and the ANC, which has a strong parliamentary majority with 249 seats, has firmly instructed its members not to support it.

While many ANC members and party veterans have distanced themselves from Mr Zuma in recent months, it is unclear how many would support a motion tabled by their opponents, particularly as Mr Zuma is already due to step down as party leader in December. “There clearly seems to be confidence that (the ANC leadership) has the numbers,” said William Gumede, executive chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation in Johannesburg. “There’s been a lot of arm-twisting going on on the side.”

The ANC, for its part, welcomed the news and reiterated its faith in its rank and file.

“We have no doubt that this frivolous motion, which has been hyped up by opposition parties as some sort of Damascus moment, will fail like many before it,” said a party statement.