Yesterday might’ve been the darkest, longest night of the year for South Africans, but today is surely one of the brightest.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng today ruled that the Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete does have the power to declare a secret ballot during the motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma.
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Previously, Mbete stated that she did not have the power to declare a secret ballot.
#SecretBallot began trending Thursday prior to Justice Mogoeng’s ruling, and hit Twitter’s worldwide trend list too
In the ruling passed at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, the Chief Justice also stated that members are Parliament should swear allegiance to South Africa, not the parties they represent.
While Justice Mogoeng didn’t order Mbete to allow the secret ballot — that would blur the lines between judiciary and politics in South Africa — the reaffirmation of her right to do so was welcomed by Twitter users, who were seemingly stocking up on GIFs for the occasion.
Baleka on hearing she has to decide now. #SecretBallot pic.twitter.com/fbdLVZ3FYZ
— Ranjeni Munusamy (@RanjeniM) June 22, 2017
“To this extent she [The Speaker] was mistaken” – CJ Mogoeng #SecretBallot #SecretBallotJudgement #ConCourt pic.twitter.com/iV7GzEK0aQ
— Author Unathi Ngada (@UnathiNgada) June 22, 2017
Mogoeng says now that Speaker knows that she has the power, she has “latitude” to allow #secretballot but cannot order her to do so pic.twitter.com/um8pSfqPjh
— Gugulethu Mhlungu (@GugsM) June 22, 2017
When Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng rules in favour of opposition parties #SecretBallot #ConCourt pic.twitter.com/U4rM1NUNRm
— TODAY BREAKING NEWS (@TheEdgeSearch) June 22, 2017
All zuma, baleka and the Saxonwold BookClub had to do was read this littlePowerful book #SecretBallot #CONCOURT pic.twitter.com/pITL1VUWIz
— Tshebetso Ditabo (@Tshebetsodj) June 22, 2017
Speaking of Twitter, #SecretBallot began trending early Thursday prior to Justice Mogoeng’s ruling. It continued to trend and soon shot to the top of Twitter’s worldwide trend rankings by late morning.
It’s still the top conversation starter in South Africa and resides among the world’s top trending topics at the time of writing.
Along with it comes a slew of other hashtags too. #ConstitutionalCourt, #ConCourt, #Mogoeng and #SecretBallotJudgement also appeared on the social network.
Feature image: GovernmentZA via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-ND, resized)
