South Africa: Former president Mbeki calls on MPs to vote against Zuma

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has called on ANC MPs to vote in the interest of the people instead of serving their party interests as the country’s parliament prepares to debate on a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday next week.

In a letter published on a local newspaper The Star, Mbeki, in reference to the motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma to be debated in Parliament on Tuesday, April 18, said MPs do not have to vote according to party lines, as News24 reports.

“It is therefore obvious and logical that Members of Parliament (MPs), each elected to this position by the people as a whole, and never by individual political parties, including their own, must act in Parliament as the voice of the people, not the voice of the political parties to which they might belong,” he said in the letter.

The former statesman now becomes the third ANC luminary to call on ANC MPs to consider the interests of South African voters over those of the party.

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe and veteran MP Ben Turok invited the wrath of the ANC for calling on the ruling party’s MPs to vote with their conscience, according to Independent Online.

The ruling ANC party has already confirmed that they would be voting against the motion.

On the other hand all opposition parties have vowed to vote in favour of the motion and appealed to the ANC to do the same, as the party has the majority vote in Parliament.