Parliament - President Jacob Zuma’s position is on shaky ground after some of his MPs in the ANC voted with the opposition in the motion of no confidence.
A small majority of 198 ANC MPs managed to get Zuma the number he wanted to survive, but this fell short of the simple majority of 201 MPs required to win an outright majority.
The opposition vote went to 177 with seven MPs abstaining.
It is not clear how MPs voted as the vote was secret.
But the fact that the ANC could not get an outright majority showed the party was deeply divided with some of the party MPs voting with the opposition.
During the debate in the House ANC Ministers and MPs came out in defence of Zuma, but the opposition said it was time for him to go.
This was one of the toughest votes in the country and Zuma’s first serious challenge to his Presidency.
In the previous motions Zuma had easily won against the opposition.
But the fact that some of the ANC MPs backed the opposition showed the party was divided.
Some of the ANC MPs including Makhosi Khoza and Mondli Gungubele had come out publicly in the past few weeks to express their desire to vote with their conscience.
It was no surprise on Tuesday that Zuma almost lost his job.
The National Assembly has 400 seats but 384 MPs voted.
Some of the MPs are off sick and could not attend.