The secret ballot last Tuesday was almost not-so-secret. A few hours before the National Assembly was due to convene to decide the motion of no-confidence in President Zuma, the opposition parties made an interesting discovery.
The ballot papers that were to be used were numbered from one to 400. With MPs to be called alphabetically to cast there vote, it would have been a no-brainer to figure out which way individual MPs had voted.
So the opposition objected and the ballot papers had to be reprinted without numbers. Of course this further confirmed the fear of many ANC MPs that the vote would never truly be secret.