South African bonds gained sharply on Monday afternoon, in line with the rand, after National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete ruled that the motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma will be conducted via secret ballot. "It’s a positive move, catching the market by surprise, but I don’t necessarily think the actual vote will be vastly different," said Ashley Dickinson, head of fixed-income dealing at Sasfin Securities. The voting will take place in Parliament on Tuesday, where opposition parties are hoping that disgruntled ANC MPs will vote Zuma out, without fear of reprisal. Zuma’s leadership has come under increased scrutiny since the firing of the highly respected Pravin Gordhan as finance minister in March, in a disputed Cabinet shuffle, which resulted in sovereign rating downgrades by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch. The yield on the benchmark R186 bond, which broadly reflects the cost of government borrowing, slipped about 10 basis points to 8.53% in afternoon trade, fro...
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