Allow MPs the right to vote with their conscience

The delicate future of South Africa will likely be determined not by the march of thousands yesterday on the Union Buildings but by the more arcane debate over whether a vote of no confidence in the president can be decided by secret ballot.

The UDM is exuberant over its application to the Constitutional Court to consider the question, although it is not clear yet if the court will decide to hear the case. The court will make that decision once it has considered the replying papers of parliament's speaker.

Hopefully, the court will provide direction on this question which is fundamental to the future health of our democracy, putting aside for a moment even the current storm over Jacob Zuma's presidency.

Some experts say that recently revised National Assembly rules allow Speaker Baleka Mbete the discretion to use a secret ballot, but that is not how her office sees it. She says - correctly - that the constitution's provisions for removing a president do not mention the use of a secret ballot. It says only that the resolution must be carried by two-thirds of MPs. If the court directs Mbete to exercise her discretion in terms of parliament's rules she will have little option but to do so and, encouragingly, parliament says her office holds no principled opposition to a secret ballot.

Mbete is clearly uneasy about exercising her discretion, further underlining a critical flaw in our system and why it is so vital that the secret-ballot question is settled.

South Africa's political system, which beholds MPs more to their party than directly to the electorate, makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the legislature to act as an effective check on an errant executive - especially when that would entail MPs voting against their party's boss.

A secret ballot would allow MPs to vote with their conscience and to act to defend the constitution. Anything less will allow despots to prosper.