President Cyril Ramaphosa Set To Face Motion Of No Confidence
On March 30, President Cyril Ramaphosa will face the first motion of no confidence in his leadership.
On the same day, the fitness of his cabinet for office will be called into question. Both motions will be debated on March 30th, according to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
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“The scheduling of the two motions of no confidence in the president and in cabinet … I will provide a feedback but for now we are proposing the date of March 30, for both the debate and the voting for these two motions which have been submitted by both the ATM and by the DA,” she said.
Mapisa-Nqakula went on to say that voting on both motions would be done openly, with no secret ballots. She denied a DA request that members of the executive refrain from participating in the process due to a potential conflict of interest.
“I have ruled that members of the executive will participate in the debate and will also participate in the vote because they are first and foremost members of parliament before they are members of the executive,” she said.
DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone urged Mapisa-Nqakula to reconsider her stance on open voting, citing an earlier court decision on secret ballots, saying MPs could face backlash from their political parties if their views differed from the political party, and thus the ballot had to be secret. “An open vote on an issue such as this would be very concerning to many members of parliament and I don’t think it would be fair,” said Mazzone.
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She requested that Mapisa-Nqakula obtain legal advice on the matter so that the parties could discuss it further and reach a compromise that was more appealing to them. “At this stage, an open vote on something like this could be … we might as well be wasting our time.
“We have a joke inside parliament on how long you are likely to stay around if you vote against your party line.”
Mapisa-Nqakula remained unmoved, claiming that she had already received a legal opinion on the subject and that it was her prerogative to decide on the voting. “I wouldn’t have come to this meeting without a legal opinion.
“I have been discussing with the legal team and the legal team has given me advice which I believe is correct. As far as I am concerned the environment in parliament is not toxic at all,” she said.
