Cape Town (AFP) – Beleaguered South African President Jacob Zuma Tuesday faced a no-confidence vote in parliament for a second time in less than a year and a legal bid to reinstate corruption charges against him.
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Parliament will “reaffirm the confidence of the great majority of South Africans in the leadership of President Jacob Zuma and his executive”.
However, the African National Congress (ANC), which maintains full support for the president, easily defeated the motion with its parliamentary majority.
In September, a DA motion to have Zuma impeached over the government’s failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in accordance with an International Criminal Court warrant fell flat as the opposition failed to push it through.
On April 6 2009, explaining the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to drop charges against Zuma, Mpshe cited the so-called “spy tapes”.
“Jacob Zuma sold out when he removed an experienced finance minister so that he could capture our Treasury for his personal benefit”, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said as he moved the motion to remove the president.
The President has always contended that the court proceedings are an abuse of process by a political party.
“It can not be that if you are white and you don’t agree with the ANC, you are called a racist, and if you are black, you are called a sell-out”, he said.
The party wants cabinet ministers – made up of 72 ministers and their deputies – “to be excluded from the vote on the motion, as there is a glaring conflict of interest between their responsibilities and private interests”.
The DA said it had written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, requesting that the voting be done via secret ballot.
The statement said it refused to “legitimise a morally and politically compromised President of the ANC” by participating in the debate.
In the latest vote, Zuma garnered even more support, with 225 members opposing the motion, with only 99 supoorting.
“If ANC suffers badly in local elections it could be a signal they can’t approach national elections (in 2019) with him in charge”.
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President Jacob Zuma’s came under sustained opposition attack in Parliament.
