DA stalls no confidence motion against Zille

The DA in the Western Cape legislature has stymied moves by the ANC to table a motion of no confidence in Premier Helen Zille.

This follows Zille’s apology on Tuesday for her tweet about colonialism.

She made the apology at a joint media briefing with party leader Mmusi Maimane in Rosebank‚ Johannesburg.

Maimane confirmed Zille would no longer participate in DA leadership structures but would remain premier of the Western Cape.

DA chief whip Mark Wiley said the legislature’s programming committee‚ which he chairs‚ had considered the ANC’s motion but decided it wouldn’t be included on the order paper for the next two sittings.

The ANC wanted the motion debated this week but will have to wait until June 29.

Wiley said: “It is on the order paper [and] it is what we call ‘below the line’. In other words it won’t be debated this Thursday [tomorrow] and the next Thursday also is not appropriate as the premier is not here.”

Khaya Magaxa‚ the ANC leader in the legislature‚ said Wiley had repeatedly refused to include the motion for this week‚ despite his party insisting that it wanted the matter debated.

“He is talking nonsense … He literally refused to put it on the order paper on the basis that they didn’t see it as an urgent matter‚” said Magaxa.

“That’s what [the DA] have been doing all along … That’s how they close the democratic space in the legislature.”

Magaxa said if the same thing had been done by the ANC in parliament‚ the DA would have gone to court.

At Tuesday’s press briefing Zille admitted that her comments were insensitive to those who had suffered under colonialism.

She acknowledged her public utterances had undermined Maimane.

“My intention is now to do everything I can to restore public trust that has been eroded‚” she said.

Maimane said: “Her acknowledgement is a huge step forward and it’s important that she is offering South Africans full acknowledgement and an apology.”

- TimesLIVE