TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Pick n Pay partners with Takealot in online shopping push

      17 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

      17 May 2022

      Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

      17 May 2022

      WhatsApp Premium: new subscription plan in development

      17 May 2022

      Fibre break knocks out Telkom’s network

      17 May 2022
    • World

      Musk tells Twitter: prove your bot claims, or the deal is off

      17 May 2022

      Intel shareholders reject pay packages for top executives

      17 May 2022

      Musk hints at reduced offer price for Twitter

      17 May 2022

      SpaceX gets $125-billion valuation in private placement

      17 May 2022

      Crypto’s wild week offers a much-needed warning

      16 May 2022
    • In-depth

      Stablecoins wend wobbly way into the unknown

      17 May 2022

      The standard model of particle physics may be broken

      11 May 2022

      Meet Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s personal ‘fixer’

      6 May 2022

      Twitter takeover was brash and fast, with Musk calling the shots

      26 April 2022

      Musk wants free speech on Twitter but spent years silencing critics

      21 April 2022
    • Podcasts

      Everything PC S01E01 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 1’

      10 May 2022

      Llew Claasen on how exchange controls are harming SA tech start-ups

      2 May 2022

      The inside scoop on OVEX’s big expansion plans

      20 April 2022

      Decentralised finance, the ‘end of banks’ – and what comes next

      25 March 2022

      Maxtec and BigFix: helping stop cyberattackers in their tracks

      18 March 2022
    • Opinion

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022

      Cash is still king … but not for much longer

      31 March 2022

      Icasa on the role of TV white spaces and dynamic spectrum access

      31 March 2022

      Minister Ntshavheni is at risk of tripping up

      24 March 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Current affairs»Zuma fast running out of political lives

    Zuma fast running out of political lives

    Current affairs By Richard Calland26 June 2017
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Jacob Zuma

    [dropcap]L[/dropcap]ike the proverbial cat with nine lives, South Africa’s scandal-ridden president, Jacob Zuma, may well have escaped yet again with his political life. This despite another resounding loss in the country’s highest court.

    The constitutional court ruled that there was no constitutional bar to the speaker of the national assembly, Baleka Mbete, opting to employ a secret ballot in a no confidence vote in parliament. She’d originally asserted that she didn’t have the authority to make this decision, prompting several opposition parties — furious at Zuma’s increasingly dictatorial project of “state capture” — to take the matter to court.

    South Africa’s judicial system continues to hold firm. This is even though there appears to be a concerted and well-coordinated campaign by a group of politicians and businessmen to undermine the integrity of state institutions as well as to exploit their weaknesses to prosecute a project of self-enrichment and rent-seeking. The campaign is pivoted around the now notorious Gupta family.

    There has been an apparent shift in attitude in the ANC’s parliamentary caucus suggesting that the no confidence vote might have a chance of succeeding

    Zuma has been brought to book repeatedly by the courts. In March last year, the constitutional court found that Zuma, as well as parliament, had violated the constitution. It did so by failing to defend and uphold the constitutional authority of the public protector – who had conducted an investigation into the president’s private homestead, Nkandla. She found that Zuma and his family had unlawfully benefited. He was required to pay back nearly R8m to the state. Yet, following a half-baked apology, Zuma held onto power.

    In parliament, he’s survived a number of no confidence votes mounted by the opposition. He also dodged two such attempts in the national executive committee of his own party, the ANC — one in November last year and most recently in late May. He’s been backed by an increasingly slender yet sufficient number of loyalists and nationalists for whom Zuma provides political cover for their populist and self-serving call for “radical economic transformation”.

    Tipping point

    The tipping point for the latest legal skirmish was Zuma’s reckless and apparently self-interested decision to fire South Africa’s widely respected minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, on 30 March this year.

    Despite a cold war with Zuma, Gordhan had held the line against “state capture” for 15 months after his reappointment in December 2015. And so, as night follows day, Gordhan’s removal precipitated an immediate ratings’ agency downgrade. The downgrade added further pressure to an already weak economy, undermining any prospects of economic growth to address the high levels of unemployment and inequality that threaten its precarious social stability.

    Parliament in Cape Town

    Once again, in response to Zuma’s ill-considered cabinet reshuffle, the Democratic Alliance tabled a motion of no confidence in the national assembly. There has been an apparent shift in attitude in the ANC’s parliamentary caucus suggesting that the no confidence vote might have a chance of succeeding. Many ANC MPs are now anxious about the party’s prospects at the 2019 national election and their own political future.

    But there’s also concern over Zuma’s apparent hold over many backbench MPs. Many of them fear retribution and expulsion should they vote against the president. If an MP ceases to be a member of the party on whose list they stood at election time, they automatically lose their seat in parliament.

    Mbete will have to choose between her loyalty to her president as one of the ANC’s ‘top six’ leadership and her duty to the constitution as speaker.

    Because of this one of the smaller opposition parties, the United Democratic Movement, requested the speaker to use a secret ballot to enable MPs to vote with their conscience. Mbete, who is also the national chairwoman of the ANC, refused. She claimed that she did not have the power to make the decision.

    The constitution is unclear. It provides for the president and the cabinet to be removed by the national assembly by a bare majority following “a vote”. In the secret ballot case, the court could have interpreted “a vote” to mean “a secret vote”. Equally, however, the failure of the constitution to specify a secret ballot in the case of a no confidence vote could mean an open ballot was intended.

    So, on June 22, the constitutional court took neither route. It held that “the constitution could have provided for a vote by secret ballot or open ballot. It did neither.”

    Rather it held that, “the national assembly has … in effect empowered the speaker to decide how a particular motion of no confidence in the president is to be conducted”.

    Accordingly, the court set aside the speaker’s decision that she lacked constitutional power to order a secret ballot. Notably, Zuma had entered the proceedings to argue, like the speaker, that there was no power to order a secret ballot and no need to do so.

    With every day passing, December’s ANC national elective conference gets closer. Then Zuma’s term as president of the ANC expires

    The court pointedly observed that Mbete has “an enormous responsibility” to ensure that when she decides whether on a “situation specific” case-by-case basis a secret ballot should be employed. She should do so on a “rational and proper basis”, with due and careful regard to a purpose of the no confidence vote. Importantly, the court noted that the primary duty of MPs is to the constitution and not to their parties.

    The implication is that the ability of MPs to vote with their conscience in such a situation is clearly a factor that the speaker should take into account when making her decision. Some critics will regard the court’s “guidance” as insufficiently precise. But the court was clearly anxious not to encroach on separation of powers — perhaps mindful of the virulent claims from some quarters of “judicial overreach”.

    Mbete will have to choose between her loyalty to her president as one of the ANC’s “top six” leadership and her duty to the constitution as speaker.

    Zuma unperturbed

    Later on the same day of the judgment, Zuma was answering questions in parliament. Judging by his typically thick-skinned signs of confidence, the president is not unduly perturbed by the court’s ruling.

    While the court stated the power to decide on whether to hold a secret ballot or not should “not be exercised arbitrarily or whimsically”, Zuma has already made it clear that he expects Mbete to decide that a secret ballot is inappropriate or unnecessary.

    Parliament returns after its current mid-year winter recess in August. If Mbete once again declines to hold a secret ballot, her decision will, in turn, then be subject to judicial review application. In due course, the court could be forced to order her to hold a secret ballot.

    So, despite the constitutional court judgment, and the lucidity of its reasoning, a no confidence vote held with a secret ballot is still some way off. Until then, Zuma lives to fight another day.

    But with every day passing, December’s ANC national elective conference gets closer. Then Zuma’s term as president of the ANC expires. Then his power will decline potentially decisively.

    One way or another, Zuma is running out of political lives.The Conversation

    • Richard Calland is associate professor in public law, University of Cape Town
    • This article was originally published on The Conversation
    Baleka Mbete Jacob Zuma Pravin Gordhan Richard Calland
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleIs Amazon coming for your industry?
    Next Article As the ATM turns 50, cash is falling out of favour

    Related Posts

    Former Eskom board should be criminally prosecuted: Zondo

    29 April 2022

    How Eskom was looted on Zuma’s watch

    29 April 2022

    Eskom issues RFP to turn coal sites into solar hubs

    12 April 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Detect and prioritise cloud security risks in minutes, not months

    17 May 2022

    Eye on the future: an interview with PureSoftware CTO Tushar Bhatkar

    17 May 2022

    Accelerating test automation

    16 May 2022
    Opinion

    From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

    19 April 2022

    How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

    8 April 2022

    Cash is still king … but not for much longer

    31 March 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.