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Cape Town – The upcoming motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma should be conducted through a secret ballot, EFF leader Julius Malema said on Saturday.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete dated February 3 2018, Malema asked Mbete to exercise the power placed upon her by section 102 of the Constitution which determined that the voting procedure takes place by a way of a secret ballot "based on the grounds contained in the letter addressed to you by the chief whip of the EFF dated July 14 2017 which are still prevalent and relevant today".
Also read: Motion of no confidence in Zuma scheduled for February 22
Malema said the Constitutional Court made it clear that one of the dangers from which MPs needed to be protected from was "undue influence, intimidation, or fear of disapproval by others".
"Revelations of Gupta emails and surveillance of individuals, including an MP, myself included, have already added to the toxified atmosphere caused by those who have in the past seek to prevent the removal of Zuma, mainly for corrupt motives," he wrote.
Malema mentioned a number of incidents which he said were "enough grounds for a secret ballot in order to protect the integrity of the result of the vote, security and livelihood of MPs".
He said the "Hands Off Jacob Zuma" campaign by the "nonentity" South African Unemployed Workers Union, "and its threats of civil war if Zuma is removed as president" was one of those incidents.
"Most recently members of the Portfolio Committee of Public Enterprise, in particular the chairperson of the inquiry into Eskom on Corporate Governance, Honourable S Rantho, continue to be threatened for doing their work in parliament. The ongoing and worsening factionalism within the ruling party and the killings in KZN add to the already poisoned atmosphere," he said.
Malema said his party also noted the scheduling of the motion of no confidence on Zuma after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) scheduled for February 8.
"We want to place it on record as EFF that your decision to schedule the motion of no confidence not as per our request for it to be scheduled before SONA is not acceptable and fails to comprehend the important and urgent matter of the removal of Zuma from the office of the presidency," he said.
The motion of no confidence in Zuma is scheduled for February 22.
