JOHANNESBURG – Opposition leaders are calling on South Africans to come out and support a march to the Constitutional Court on Monday.

The action comes as the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) application for a secret vote in Parliament will be heard at the highest court in the country. 

It will start at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown.

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The UDM wants National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to allow a secret ballot when MPs vote on the no confidence motion in President Jacob Zuma, after Mbete argued that the rules of Parliament did not provide for a secret ballot. Parliament delayed setting a date on the motion pending the outcome of Monday’s court bid.

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Several opposition parties and two civil society groups are backing the court action and warned of dire consequences if  Zuma is not removed soon.

The parties believe a secret vote will provide the safest space for MPs to vote without fear.

“The Constitutional Court is the last line of defence for citizens when betrayed by those who wield political power. We believe that President Zuma’s continued stay in office poses a major threat to constitutionalism in South Africa. It threatens to weaken our economy, to impoverish millions of our people, and further to corrupt and ultimately collapse our state. This negative trend can and must be reversed,” the parties said in a joint statement.

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