In a surprise announcement, moments ago South Africa's parliament speaker announced a secret ballot will be held on Zuma no-confidence motion on Tuesday. Speaking to journalists, the speaker of the national assembly, Baleka Mbete, who is a member of the ruling ANC party, said it is her responsibility as speaker to decide whether or not the no confidence vote in President Zuma will be conducted by secret ballot or not. Her decision which was just announced: the vote will indeed be secret. Some more soundbites via Bloomberg: Motion is “potent tool towards holding president to account” Central to the freedom of a member of parliament is to follow the dictates of personal conscience Members must exercise oversight powers effectively Secret ballot becomes necessary where environment is “toxic or highly charged” A no-confidence motion is scheduled to be debated on Tuesday and requires the backing of a majority of the 400 lawmakers to pass. And since it is generally assumed that a secret ballot would increase the chances of President Zuma being ousted, as ruling-party lawmakers who back his ouster won’t risk losing their jobs, the ZAR has surged by as much as 2.0%, trading up 1.5% to 13.2495/USD last while yields on benchmark government bonds due Dec. 2026 drops 7bps to 8.58%, as it now appears that a more "stable" regime may be in the offing.