South Africa: Zuma to face no-confidence vote in August

South Africa’s parliament will on August 3 vote a no-confidence motion on President Jacob Zuma, the national legislature said on Friday, but added that further consultations were taking place to determine whether the ballot would be held in secret.

The country’s top court ruled earlier in June that secret ballots may be held for motions of no confidence in parliament, a potential blow to the tenure of scandal-prone Zuma who said such a vote would be unfair.

Parliament officials said the vote would be the ninth time during Zuma’s rule as president that he would face such a vote, having survived previous attempts to remove him.

Having survived series of removal moves, Zuma has admitted that the ruling party, African National Congress (ANC), is beset by corruption and divisions.

He has, therefore, backed calls to set up an investigation into the state capture allegations of corruption.

Zuma said ANC, as the leader of society, must be at the forefront of fighting corruption both in the public and private sector.

The president has been accused of political corruption for allowing his friends, the Gupta business family, to have sway on key government’s decision-making processes to their own advantage.

Zuma told delegates during the opening of a six-day African National Congress (ANC) Policy Conference in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, that he welcomed a probe into the allegations.

“At a political level, this debate requires a thoroughgoing analysis of the South African political economy so that we can understand what is meant by the state capture. We need to know which business interests have sought to influence the ANC and its government over the years, with what impact, and what must be done to end the said capture,” President Zuma said.

The issue is expected to be at the fore of policy discussions during the conference as ANC reviews its party policies. The gathering is held at least six months before its five-year elective summit.

However, President Zuma called on the ruling party to reform and turn around its fortunes ahead of elections in 2019.