Opposition parties pin hopes on widening gap in ANC's closed ranks

Opposition parties supporting a motion of no confidence against Jacob Zuma are hoping that the fractures in the ruling party have widened enough to convince some ANC MPs to vote with them.

Both the DA and the EFF have written to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to request that a motion of no confidence in the president be debated and voted on by the house.

Previous such motions, in March and November last year, and one to impeach Zuma last April, fell flat when the ANC closed ranks around the president by using its majority in parliament.

But this time the EFF and DA are buoyant.

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EFF leader Julius Malema has also urged Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to use his clout to fight Zuma after expressing his unhappiness with the president's decision to reshuffle his cabinet.

"If he resigns and speaks from outside [the government], someone will say he is speaking because he is outside. A deputy president disagrees with a sitting president? It makes things interesting," said Malema.

Malema said it would not be enough for some ANC MPs to simply abstain - at least 201 legislators out of 400 were required for the motion to pass.

Malema said the EFF was speaking privately to at least 70 ANC MPs to persuade them to vote against Zuma.

"The [SACP] leadership must come to the party ... We are working on a strategy on how best to remove Zuma as president because what Zuma did was not presidential. We have been in conversation with different people in the cabinet," said Malema.

IFP chief whip Narend Singh said the party would support the motion of no confidence even though it would be a "futile exercise" without the support of the ANC.

Singh said he believed that the opposition should have waited a while before announcing the motion to "see what developments take place in the ANC, and what momentum builds up there", and then work on a strategy.

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United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said the reshuffle was a "confirmation of the divisions in the ANC" and had shown Zuma to be a "factionalist" who went against the advice of Ramaphosa and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.

The UDM would support the motion of no confidence.

Holomisa said the united front previously presented by the ANC during debates on motions of no confidence could be a thing of the past.

"That united front was because the caucus was briefed by the secretary-general or the deputy, but I doubt this time around that Mantashe would have the guts to go and face the caucus, so there is a good chance this time that some will join the vote," he said.

Holomisa said opposition leaders would meet this week to "collectively reflect on what is taking place, and [would be] reacting collectively".

African People's Convention president Themba Godi, chairman of the standing committee on public accounts in parliament, said he believed Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini should have lost her job instead of Gordhan.

"She has proved in word and action that she is incapable of doing her job and she has presided over a process that has corruption written all over it," he said.

Godi, who voted with the ANC on the motion of no confidence last March and abstained in November, said he had not yet made up his mind which way to vote this time around.

"I haven't seen the basis for the motion of no confidence yet. I will wait to see what the main thrust of the argument is and then take it from there."