Zuma accuses opposition of bribing MPs to oust him
Wednesday August 09 2017
South African President Jacob Zuma addresses supporters outside parliament after surviving his eighth no-confidence vote. PHOTO | AFP
South African President Jacob Zuma has accused the opposition of bribing some of his African National Congress (ANC) party legislators to vote against him.
The ANC members of Parliament narrowly defeated the eighth motion of no-confidence in him through a secret ballot on Tuesday. Only 198 MPs of the ANC’s 244 lawmakers who were in Parliament on Tuesday voted against the opposition Democratic Alliance’s bid to force the president to quit office.
The motion was defeated with only 177 MPs voting in favour while nine abstained. The opposition needed 201 votes to remove President Zuma from office.
“I can tell you, they spent a lot of money. And I’m happy for those who took the money, children will eat,” President Zuma told his party’s supporters.
“If they give you money, take it, pay for the schools and vote right. That is the principle,” he said.
Another opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said it was looking forward to its Constitutional Court case against the South African leader next month.
The Julius Malema-led party maintains President Zuma broke his oath of office and must be impeached.
President Zuma has been linked to multiple corruption scandals.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, said President Zuma’s narrow escape in the Tuesday vote showed that the ANC is equally tired of him.
“What was encouraging today is, unlike previous times, the opposition and the ANC stood together to say Zuma must go. It proved the simple fact that he's a dead president walking and he must resign and do the right thing. But we've got to continue in September – we want to take Zuma to court,” he said.
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa on Tuesday night said his party will join the EFF in court to impeach the president.
“I’ve always maintained that our politics must be realigned… 2019 cannot come soon enough and that’s why we need to ensure that what was clear today (Tuesday), the sooner we can get rid of the ANC, the better it will be for the people of South Africa,” Mr Holomisa said.
President Zuma is due to step down as head of the ANC in December, and as president before the 2019 General Election.