Mbete not averse to secret ballot
National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete says she is personally not averse to a secret ballot vote in the motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
Mbete filed her answering affidavit to the Constitutional Court in response to the United Democratic Front's (UDM) application to approach the court to argue why secret ballots should be used.
"At the outset, I wish to state that I am personally not averse to having a motion of no confidence in the President being decided by secret ballot. I am, however, bound by the Constitution and the Rules that the National Assembly has adopted. Accordingly, I have no authority or discretion to accede to the applicant's request," says Mbete in her affidavit.
Mbete says the National Assembly previously declined to adopt the proposal to include the provision for a vote by secret ballot.
The Speaker added that the UDM's application has no merit.
"It does not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of this Court; it does not meet the requirements for direct access; it is calculated to embroil this Court in political controversy in a matter that involves a violation of the principle of separation of powers and it is grounded on an assumption that the members of the National Assembly, particularly, members of the African National Congress, are weak-kneed, timid, cowardly, unprincipled and spineless persons, which assumption I am not prepared to make," said Mbete.