The motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa and the no confidence in his Cabinet are set to go ahead on Wednesday afternoon.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) submitted its motion of no confidence, targetting Ramaphosa’s leadership over the sealing of his bank statements related to his 2017 campaign for the ANC presidency, among other things.
Its motion of no-confidence application has been on the agenda of Parliament for the past two years, according to IOL.
It was rejected by the former National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise.
However, the party recently resubmitted the application under the new Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
The ATM had, however, sought to postpone the motion after the Western Cape High Court on Monday found that their application to review Mapisa-Nqakula’s decision to have the motion voted on by open ballot was not urgent.
“The Speaker advised the ATM that, as the power to postpone items on the agenda of the Assembly resided with the National Assembly Programming Committee, she could not unilaterally accede to their request,” said a statement from Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo, according to News24.
Mapisa-Nqakula referred the ATM to Rule 90, which stipulated that no member may anticipate the discussion of a matter appearing on an order paper or agreed upon by the programme committee for scheduling, Times Live reported.
“In this regard, the implication of the ATM’s motion is that it will remain on the order paper, thereby blocking other similar motions. The speaker has a duty to protect the rights of other parties to move motions of no confidence in the president,” the report quoted Mathapo as saying.