No confidence motion against S. Africa's Zuma defeated

A new motion of no confidence against South African President Jacob Zuma was defeated in Parliament on Thursday.

The motion was tabled by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) which took advantage of the release of the state capture report on allegations of improper involvement of private interests in the running of state affairs.

During the debate on the motion, DA's request for a secret ballot was rejected. As Parliament is dominated by MPs of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the DA hoped to garner enough support from a secret ballot.

The ANC Chief Whip Office welcomed the rejection of the motion, saying that while the ANC respects the constitutional right of any party to table a motion of no confidence, the ANC would never associate itself with a motion that is based on concocted fabrications than substantive facts.

Motions of no confidence have unfortunately become part of the DA's ritualistic political programme, which the party schedules long in advance regardless of whether there exists a basis for them or not, the office said.

In the past two and a half years, the Parliament saw seven similar motions, all of which defeated.

The DA tabled this motion three weeks ago, asking for a legitimate expression to the overwhelming disapproval of, and opposition to Zuma and his administration.

Since then, the release of the state capture report and its contents has vindicated this decision, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said Tuesday.

The report, compiled by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and released on November 2, shed light on how the wealthy Indian Gupta family might have used their close relations with Zuma to influence the appointment of cabinet ministers and CEOs of state-run enterprises.

The report prompted growing calls for Zuma to resign. There also have been calls by ANC veterans for the party to hold a Special National Executive Committee to discuss the matter.

The report has not made any definitive guilty findings or conclusive orders against any implicated individual, let alone Zuma, the ANC argues.

In this regard, to remove a democratically and constitutionally elected President arbitrarily or on the impulses of the DA would blatantly undermine the electoral will of the people, the party says.

During Thursday's debate, Maimane urged MPs to think of themselves not as members of political parties but as South Africans.

"We can choose to sit back while our state is captured by the greedy and the corrupt or we can stand up against state capture; we can choose to elevate one man above the law or we can fight for every person to be equal before the law," he said.

(APD)