Zuma survives no-confidence vote

Pretoria, 19 March-(ANA)-South African President Jacob Zuma has survived a vote of no-confidence called by opposition parties.

The vote - the first such move since the ANC came to power in 1994 - was defeated by 241 votes to 84 with eight abstentions.

The motion was called by the Congress of the People (Cope) and backed by the Democratic Alliance.

The vote follows an admission by President Zuma, who has three wives, that he has a child out of wedlock.

The ANC has a huge parliamentary majority.

Mr Zuma is in Zimbabwe, where he went to try to ease tensions in the fragile unity government. He is due to return to South Africa later.

President Zuma faced sharp criticism earlier this year after it emerged he had fathered a child with Sonono Khoza, 39, the daughter of local World Cup boss Irvin Khoza.

He was also accused of failing to declare his financial interests within the allotted timeframe.(ANA)

FA/ANA/19 March 2010-------