Zuma's plan to ‘scrap secret vote system’ misses voters, threatens democracy — analyst

Despite being elected twice as president in a secret ballot electoral system, Jacob Zuma says it “robs” voters and should be scrapped.

He plans to change the constitution if his MK party wins the May 29 elections.

Speaking at a party rally at the weekend, Zuma said changing the electoral laws is part of his plans to amend the constitution.

“If you are black and do not vote with fellow blacks, you will die without getting sick. We are not playing this time around. If it was up to me, I would say every black person must pass before me to see which party they voted for and stop this thing of a secret vote. Why would you hide when you vote for something you love? When we govern, we will change voting laws and there will be no secret vote system,” he said.

Other laws Zuma wants to change include decriminalising corporal punishment of children by their parents and sending “unmarried pregnant teenage girls” to Robben Island as punishment.

Zuma said the constitution has “unfair laws” which “fell through the cracks” during the Codesa negotiations and parliament failed to challenge them.

“The negotiations were not the last stop for our freedom. How can we say we are free but our land is in the hands of white people? What made us say the constitution is No 1 but it has never removed doubt about the Land Act? Once we take over we will change the law urgently,” he said.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Unisa political analyst Prof Dirk Kotze described Zuma’s plans as a “pipe dream”.

“What he is saying is unconstitutional. All those things he wants will require constitutional changes which will need a two-thirds majority. It is much more complicated than what he is presenting to the public,” he said

Zuma's comments could see him lose votes in the elections, said Kotze. 

“His comments boil down to a cup of conservative populism. There will be almost no young people who will support this. He talks to an older-than-35 constituency in this election to whom it might appeal. For current political dynamics it is not going to give him a lot of support.

“It is full of contradictions. On the one hand he wants to present himself as a radical economic and social transformer, but on the other he wants to go back to very old type of lifestyle.”

Kotze said Zuma's plans to amend the constitution to allow an open voting system threatened democracy. 

“The talk about 'the vote must be public' is unheard of, not only in South Africa but all over the world. The only place it happens is in Eswatini. Even if he was in government, this would be one of the most drastic changes and would demolish our democracy. The point about public representation is a starting point of our democracy, thereafter all other things follow.”

Speeches by MK party leaders have been in the spotlight recently. Earlier this month, MK party interim youth leader Bonginkosi Khanyile was criticised for threatening the elections after he said the party would do everything in its power to stop the elections if the MK party or Zuma’s face did not feature on ballot papers.

Khanyile, still facing charges of incitement of violence in the July 2021 unrest, said the party was willing to meet “toe-to-toe” with security forces in their fight for “democracy”.

MK party senior leader in KwaZulu-Natal Visvin Reddy made similar remarks in a viral video. “We are sending a loud and clear message that if these courts, which are sometimes captured, try to stop the MK [party] there will be anarchy,” he said.

“There will be riots that have never been seen in this country. There will be no election. No South African will go to the polls if MK is not on the ballot.”

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