Parliament’s vote on the no-confidence motion against President Cyril Ramaphosa is in limbo after the African Transformation Movement (ATM) returned to court seeking a secret ballot.
The matter will be heard on March 28, two days before the March 30 debate.
National assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is still to announce her final decision on how voting will take place to determine ATM’s motion against the president and that of the DA against his cabinet.
With a pending court matter and the short period before the court hearing and the debate, a number of MPs are calling for the debate against the president to be postponed to next term to give parliament and Mapisa-Nqakula enough time to process the court’s decision.
ANC MP Hope Papo said if the court decided on a secret ballot and there were no virtual mechanism for such a vote, as suggested by parliament officials, the speaker might have to postpone the sitting.
UDM chief whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa agreed, saying as leaders, parliamentarians have to be seen to respect the court process that is under way and that rescheduling the debate may be the sensible thing to do.
“Maybe these motions should be scheduled for after recess, and by then we will be clear on what the judgment of the court is on the matter,” he said.
This would also give parliament and the speaker sufficient time to consider and factor in the court’s decision into whatever process unfolded in parliament, he said.
The NFP’s Shaik Emam also noted it was common for judgments to be reserved and this could cause chaos for parliament.
“If they are rescheduled to the second term, parliament may have adequate time to prepare. Rushing it will put us under unnecessary pressure,” he said.
The ATM approached the court earlier this month after Mapisa-Nqakula announced that voting in the two motions — brought by the ATM against Ramaphosa and by the DA against the cabinet — would be done openly through party chief whips and there would be no secret ballot.
When her ruling was challenged by opposition MPs during the national assembly’s programming committee meeting, with some indicating they might take it on review, she invited political parties to make submissions to her office on how voting should be carried out.
Mapisa-Nqakula did not attend Thursday morning’s meeting as she is in Indonesia on official business.
National assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso said parliament’s virtual platform was not able to run a secret ballot and if the decision were in favour of a secret ballot, the speaker would have to decide on how to proceed.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina argued parliament was not interdicted and if there was no judgment on February 28, it would have to proceed as planned with the two motions.
Deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli concluded the discussion by saying they would urgently reach out to Mapisa-Nqakula and her final decision would be communicated in due course.
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