President Jacob Zuma has easily defeated a motion of no confidence introduced in South Africa’s national assembly by the opposition Democratic Alliance.
The ANC used its comfortable parliamentary majority to vote down the motion by 214 votes to 126.
It’s the third no confidence motion he’s survived in under a year.
Unusually there were 58 ANC members who did not vote.
It is customary in matters as important as confidence in the president for a three-line whip to be called – forcing all members to go through the division lobby.
The two hour debate took on a confrontational tone when the ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters demanded a secret ballot, saying ANC members who wanted Zuma out would be intimidated.
EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu likened Zuma to a dictator who would resort to killing his opponents
Parliamentary rules do not provide for secret ballots on a no confidence motion.
So, Zuma has won a battle in a much longer war that seen him beaten in a series of humiliating legal defeats.
These setbacks include a Constitutional Ruling that he has improperly enriched himself with non-security improvements to his private residence paid from the public purse.
A Pretoria High Court has ruled against his application to appeal against the reinstatement of nearly 800 charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering that were dropped by the prosecution authority before he came president.
The Public Protector has found a corrupt influence over his presidency by a wealthy Indian family