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Jacob Zuma

JOHANNESBURG. — The vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma will be the most important and difficult ballot ANC MPs will have to decide on, the party’s stalwarts said yesterday.

The stalwarts wrote an open letter urging MPs to remember the pledge they made as Members of Parliament — to never conduct themselves in a manner that will diminish their integrity and that of the Republic of South Africa.

“As you approach the moment of truth, please appreciate that the personal decision you make in this vote of no confidence, will not simply be judged in the weeks to come, but will be written into the history, not only of the country but that of the ANC, as an act that struck a blow for the rescuing of the ANC,” the letter stated.

Earlier yesterday, Parliament said Speaker Baleka Mbete is likely to announce her decision today on the use of a secret ballot in this week’s motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma. The motion is expected to be heard and voted on in the National Assembly tomorrow.

The Constitutional Court ruled in June that Mbete, as Speaker, has the constitutional power to decide whether or not to hold a secret ballot during the motion. The stalwarts said in their letter that the sanctity and security of the state was under direct attack from criminal politicians, state officials and privateers.

Meanwhile, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) yesterday called for an open vote during the National Assembly debate on a motion of no confidence in President Zuma.

“While we concur with the ruling of the Constitutional Court that it is the prerogative of the Speaker of the National Assembly to determine whether the vote in the upcoming no confidence motion should be open or secret, it is our firm belief that it should be an open vote,” MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe said.

“Our opposition to a secret vote is premised on our conviction that elected representatives should not be allowed to vote in secret.

There have been disingenuous and deliberate attempts by the opposition to the ANC (both inside and outside of parliament) to confuse the secret vote that citizens are entitled to during elections with the vote of elected representatives,” he said.

While citizens were entitled to a secret vote because they spoke only for themselves and therefore their votes “are no one’s business, elected representatives speak for voters and thus their votes are indeed everyone’s business”.

Furthermore, the ANC members deployed as MPs in the National Assembly “do not find themselves there on their own volition as individuals”. They were in the National Assembly as members of the ANC, who had to carry out ANC decisions and policies, Maphatsoe said. The MKMVA was confident that regardless of whether the motion of no confidence would be by open or secret vote, it would be “decisively defeated”.

“The opposition parties have tabled seven similar spurious no confidence motions and they made absolutely no headway — it will be no different this time round,” he said. — News24/ANA.