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South African parliament approves secret ballot in no confidence vote against Jacob Zuma
Jacob Zuma, the South African president, will face a vote of no confidence on Tuesday conducted 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 major cabinet reshuffle in March and fired 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 on Monday 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 test," said Ms Mbete.
Her announcement was immediately welcomed by opposition parties, who had been fighting for the vote to take place in secret so members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party were free to “vote with their conscience” and not face repercussions for voting against the ANC leader.
“The ball is no longer in the courts of the opposition parties only,” Bantu Holomisa, head of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) opposition party told local media. “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.
Peter Attard Montalto, an analyst with Nomura International, said the news that the vote of no confidence would be held in a secret ballot was "a serious shock" but "we still expect the vote to fail".
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 political 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 chairperson 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 do not nor have we ever doubted their loyalty and discipline in relation to the decisions of the movement,” said a party statement issued on Monday. “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.”