Zuma expressed full confidence in his own leadership. “I am fit and I am doing it very well
President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that he saw no reason why an eighth attempt in Parliament to oust him should be any different from those that had come before.
“My view is that we should do what we have done all the time in the past times, because I see no convincing reason why we should change,” Zuma said after being asked whether he would support a secret ballot in a motion of no confidence against him.
“So, if I might therefore say which one [a secret or an open ballot: it should be done] in a manner in which we have been voting before. It has not been secret and that is how we voted.”
Zuma was answering questions in the National Assembly shortly after the Democratic Alliance sought a no-confidence motion in him (which it hopes will be by secret ballot) after Thursday’s Constitutional Court judgment that the speaker had the power to decide that such a motion could be determined by a secret ballot.
Zuma said he had faced seven such actions before, and was happy with the procedure followed. “Why this time [do] you think we should do it differently?”
Zuma seemed equally unconcerned about other matters, telling opposition parties they do nothing but talk, making fun of their efforts, and time and again dismissing their concerns as being ignorant.
Those concerned about the recession do not understand global economics, he said.
Those worried about unemployment fail to take apartheid into account, those worried about the new mining charter do not understand its innovation, and those opposed to a huge nuclear build do not grasp that it will turn a profit.
In fact, building nuclear power stations will “bring dividends and profits for many thousands of years to come”, Zuma said.
He said those opposed to nuclear energy were either concerned it would be used to build bombs or did not understand that it would generate money in the long run. But nuclear plants would be built only if they could be afforded, he added.
Zuma had previously, for years, held that South Africa must build 9 600 megawatts of new nuclear power, even after analysts consistently found that to be unaffordable.
Asked about the economy, Zuma, in stark contrast to the consensus among economists, said South Africa was in a recession because the global economy was still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. “I am very positive that we are going to come out of this technical recession quicker than we believe,” he said.
He also expressed full confidence in his own leadership.
“I am fit and I am doing it very well,” he said.