Secret Zuma no-confidence vote allowed

Johannesburg, Thursday

South Africa’s highest court has ruled that lawmakers can cast secret ballots in a no-confidence vote in President Jacob Zuma, who is facing mounting criticism within the ruling ANC.

Although no date has been set for such a vote, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said the National Assembly Speaker had the authority to order a secret ballot following a case brought by the country’s opposition.

“The Speaker of the National Assembly has constitutional power to prescribe that voting in a motion of no-confidence in the President of the Republic of South Africa be conducted by secret ballot,” the chief justice said.

Opposition parties have lobbied for a secret ballot and called for African National Congress (ANC) lawmakers to “vote with their conscience”, but Speaker Baleka Mbete had in April said she had no powers to approve a secret ballot.

“Whether the proceedings are to be by secret ballot is a power that rests firmly in the hands of the Speaker, but exercisable subject to crucial factors that are appropriately seasoned with considerations of rationality,” said Mogoeng.

The ANC holds a large majority in parliament and Zuma has survived similar votes in the past, which have not been secret. “We will defeat this motion of no confidence by the opposition as we have successfully done so in the previous four motions tabled in this fifth term of parliament,” the ANC vowed in a statement released shortly after the court’s decision.

Justice Mogoeng described the no confidence vote—initially scheduled for April but deferred over the court hearing—as “one of the severest political consequences imaginable, a sword that hangs over the head of the president to force him or her to always do the right thing.” -AFP

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