DA’s John Steenhuisen not hopeful of success in Zuma no-confidence vote
‘We want the ANC to either dump Zuma or take ownership of him. That for us is the bigger argument here’
President Jacob Zuma is likely to defeat a motion of no-confidence, irrespective of whether there is an open vote or secret ballot, as most members of the ANC will close ranks around him, a senior DA MP says. The Democratic Alliance, the biggest opposition party, filed the no-confidence motion in April after Zuma’s decision to fire Pravin Gordhan as finance minister prompted two ratings companies to downgrade the country’s foreign-currency debt to junk. While Zuma has been implicated in several scandals and faces mounting opposition within the ANC, only a handful of its MPs have publicly said they will defy a party instruction and vote for his ouster. "I’m not optimistic at all that the ANC will vote Zuma out, secret ballot or no secret ballot," John Steenhuisen, the DA’s chief whip in Parliament, said in an interview in Cape Town. "I do think there will be breakaways, abstentions, failures to pitch on the day and maybe one or two votes against Zuma. That would be a major loss for Z...
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