JOHANNESBURG �� South African Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete said she's considering a request to recall lawmakers to debate an opposition-sponsored motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma, after he made Cabinet changes that top ruling party officials said was done without consulting them.
"Given the seriousness inherent in the motions of no confidence and their implication on the nation, I have therefore decided to cut my trip to Bangladesh short to ensure that these requests are given the appropriate consideration," Mbete said Sunday. Parliament is on its Easter recess.
Zuma and his Cabinet would have to resign if a no-confidence motion succeeds, Masibulele Xaso, the National Assembly secretary, said at a briefing. Mbete ruled out a secret ballot in a possible vote, saying it's not in the rules of Parliament.
The announcement followed increased pressure from the African National Congress and opposition parties that's been building on the president since he fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and made 19 other changes to his administration Friday. The demand for action by Parliament came from the main opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Front.
The decision by Zuma to fire Gordhan, with whom he feuded over control of state finances, and to not consult with his top party officials on the other Cabinet changes brought to the open South Africa's biggest political crisis in almost a decade.
Zuma replaced Gordhan with former Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, who has no financial or business experience.
The ANC has used its 62 percent majority in the 400-seat National Assembly to block four motions of no confidence, which required a simple majority to pass, and one impeachment attempt filed by the opposition since Zuma took office in May 2009.
The outcome this time is less certain after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe and Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize publicly questioned the manner in which the Cabinet changes were handled. The three make up half of the party's committee of top officials. Jackson Mthembu, the ANC's chief whip in Parliament, also criticized the decision to fire Gordhan, while the South African Communist Party, which is in an alliance with the ANC, urged Zuma to quit, describing his actions as "recklessness."
Mbete said that it isn't in the ANC's "culture" to publicly criticize its leaders and that there's no rule forcing the president to consult with the party's top echelons to discuss Cabinet changes.
Mkhize said the president's failure to consult the ANC's top leadership about the rest of the Cabinet changes "left a distinct impression that the ANC is no longer the center" of decision making in the government.
ANC leaders are scheduled to meet on Monday.
The Cabinet changes were made less than nine months before Zuma is due to step down as ANC leader, and a year after the nation's top court found that he violated his oath of office when he refused to repay public money spent on his private home. His second and final term as the nation's president is due to end in 2019.
"I am alive to the extreme challenges and sense of anxiety that our young democracy is going through at this moment," Mbete said. "Our people are looking to Parliament to play its part and exercise its constitutional responsibilities."
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(Sam Mkokeli and Mike Cohen contributed to this report.)
