What's Needed For the Motion Of No Confidence In Zuma To Succeed -- In Numbers

Every non-ANC member of Parliament, as well as 50 ANC members, must vote him out.
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A general view of South Africa's Parliament in Cape Town.
Mike Hutchings / Reuters

The vote of no confidence in Jacob Zuma is all about the numbers.

Obviously, the opposition needs the majority of Parliament's 400 members to vote the president out of the office.

However, when the ruling party holds almost 250 seats, and have cracked the whip at their members to toe the party line, the task quickly becomes a monumental one.

In 2014, when South Africans last went to the polls, 13 of the 29 parties that contested the elections received enough votes to gain seats in Parliament.

To get one seat, those parties would have had to receive about 0.25 percent on the entire vote, which equates to between 30,000 and 50,000 votes, depending on the turnout.

The ANC won 249 seats, which translates to about 62 percent.

Of these seats, 14 were from the Western Cape, 20 from the Northern Cape, 23 from the North-West, 24 from Mpumalanga and 39 from Limpopo.

The party received its highest support from KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, which awarded the party 52, 40 and 45 seats respectively.

The Democratic Alliance holds 89 seats and the Economic Freedom Fighters has 25. The Inkatha Freedom Party secured 10 seats while the National Freedom Party won six.

Other parties like the United Democratic Movement, Congress of the People, African Christian Democratic Party, Pan Africanist Congress, African People's Convention, Agang SA, Freedom Front Plus and the African Independent Congress each got four or less seats.

The total seats held outside the ANC is 151. This means, if every non-ANC member unanimously voted against Zuma, 50 ANC members would have to cast their ballot against their president for the motion to succeed.

Thus far, ANC MPs like Pravin Gordhan, Makhosi Khoza and Mondli Gungubele have come out publicly asking for Zuma to step down.

The vote will be held on August 8 and it still remains unclear as to whether National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete will declare the motion to be held under a secret ballot.