ANC is united against opposition - Zuma

A jubilant South African president Jacob Zuma, after surviving a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday said, his party the African National Congress – ANC was united and opposition could not defeat it.

He was addressing a cheering crowd after defeating the motion against him for the eighth time in the national assembly.

Zuma reiterated the ANC remains unshakable saying, “it’s difficult to defeat the ANC. You can try, I’m sure you’ll remember that today the vote of no-confidence was number eight. Always, they try, they don’t learn, that you can never touch the ANC.”

Weeks to the secret ballot vote, some members of the ANC had called for their leader to step down. Radical politician Julius Malema told crowds outside the parliament that it is the first time ruling party MPs have supported opposition to throw Zuma out.

“The opposition got 35 votes from the ANC because that nine vote (abstentions) i s a motion of no-confidence in Zuma. When your own people abstain instead of voting for you, they are passing a motion of no-confidence against you. So, be rest assured, for the first time in the history of this parliament, we get the votes from the ANC”, firebrand Malema said.

Jacob Zuma survived the no-confidence motion in parliament after collecting 198 votes against 177 from opposition as ANC backed him.

The embattled president now has barely a year in office before another South African general election in 2019.