Johannesburg - As the pressure mounts for Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete to allow for a secret ballot in Tuesday's no confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma, calls are being made for ANC MPs to vote with their conscience.
Such calls have been coming from opposition parties and even within the ANC, with outspoken ANC MP Makhosi Khoza encouraging her fellow members to vote with their conscience regardless of the backlash they may face from the party.
Mbete is expected to announce her decision on Monday afternoon.
Khoza posted on Facebook on Monday morning that she was aware of how hard it will be to vote against Zuma, and that the vote was not against the ANC.
She also acknowledged that the vote will not be a "silver bullet" that will "rescue our ailing country''.
"Supporting a vote of no confidence is not against the ANC, but against the kleptocracy President Zuma has developed during his tenure as the leader of the ANC and of the country. It is a vote against corruption, it is a vote to protect the security net that is critical to our citizens and a defense of our democracy," said Khoza.
"Today I call on MPs to vote with their conscience. The road will not be easy but we will walk it together. We must do the right thing, and the right thing is to support tomorrow's vote of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma," said Khoza.
Khoza joins a a few ANC MPs that have spoken out against Zuma and have asked for him to resign, they include former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Mcebisi Jonas and Derek Hanekom.
But she now faces a disciplinary hearing for calls for Zuma to resign and is expected to appear before the hearing in September.
Last week ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu reiterated the party's decision that the would not support such a vote, and said that voting against Zuma would be like throwing an nuclear bomb.
Mbete has been widely criticised for taking too long to make a decision on the procedure of the no confidence vote. This is after the Constitutional Court had confirmed that she indeed had the powers to decide whether such a vote could be held in secret or not.
The UDM and the DA said they would abide by Mbete's decision on the procedure whether secret or not. But the EFF has threatened to go to court to force Mbete's hand if she does not allow for a secret vote