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President Cyril Ramaphosa
- The ATM’s urgent request for a secret vote on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s vote of no confidence will be heard hours before the motion is scheduled.
- The motion will be carried out unless the ATM withdraws it.
- The UDM will not participate in the motion if it is not by secret ballot and the DA will abstain.
The ATM’s urgent request for a vote of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa by secret ballot will be heard Thursday morning, hours before the motion is scheduled.
The motion will continue unless it is withdrawn by ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula, who sponsored the motion.
After the party tabled the motion in February this year, it also asked the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, to vote by secret ballot.
Modise refused, saying he did not provide evidence of “a highly charged atmosphere, intimidation of any member, or demonstrable evidence of threats against the lives of members and their families, which may justify a secret ballot.”
He also referred to the constitutional imperative of transparency.
After the motion was scheduled last week, and Modise confirmed that the vote will be open, Zungula wrote to him to ask him to reconsider.
This was followed by a letter from the ATM’s lawyers.
Once again, Modise refused.
He also noted that the National Assembly currently uses a hybrid virtual system, which makes secret voting practically difficult.
President Thandi Modise rejected the ATM’s request that the motion of no confidence to President Cyril Ramaphosa be voted on by secret ballot.
In response, the ATM has indicated that it will go to court. | @gerbjan https://t.co/Xy0u11bfCh
– News24 (@ Noticias24) December 1, 2020
On Wednesday, the ATM filed an application with the Western Cape Superior Court, asking it to review Modise’s decision on the grounds that it was “irrational and biased.”
It does not ask the court to interrupt the proceedings of the National Assembly with the motion pending the court’s decision.
“The solicitor [Zungula] he has a reasonable opinion that the president has not fulfilled his constitutional mandate, “reads Zungula’s founding affidavit.
It acknowledged that Modise had the discretion to decide whether the vote was conducted by open or secret ballot.
“In my opinion, the loyalty of the parliamentarian can best be achieved when his personal conscience is tested rather than when the parliamentarians act according to the mandate of their party.
According to Zungula, the political climate was so toxic at this time that deputies could not cast their votes according to their “individual conscience” and an open vote would “expose members to illegitimate hardships.”
“In 2017, the vote of no confidence in President Zuma was conducted by secret ballot under circumstances that are the same as the toxic political circumstances as they are today,” his affidavit reads.
“The same decision of the President in 2017 to carry out the vote of no confidence with a secret ballot will apply even in the current circumstances.”
ATM spokesperson Sibusiso Mncwabe confirmed that the case would be heard at 10:00 am by the Western Cape Superior Court.
Parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo said in a tweet: “Parliament has received documents from ATM seeking the WC Supreme Court to annul the president’s decision on his request for a secret vote on the motion of no confidence. Parliament is studying the documents. The motion will continue tomorrow as scheduled unless it is withdrawn prior to debate by the sponsor. “
The plenary is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m., and the motion is the fifth item on the agenda and will probably begin in the late afternoon.
The African Transformation Movement is taking the fight to Parliamentary Speaker Thandi Modise and the party now hires legal counsel to force her to give in to their demand that the presidential motion of no confidence be a secret ballot. Https://t.co/mWcak94v2M
– City Press (@City_Press) December 1, 2020
Meanwhile, the UDM indicated that it would not participate in the motion if it were not by secret ballot, said its leader, Bantu Holomisa, in a letter to Modise.
It was the UDM that brought the lawsuit to the Constitutional Court that paved the way for Baleka Mbete to have the August 2017 motion of censure against former President Jacob Zuma accused of corruption in a secret ballot.
The DA will also abstain from voting, but for different reasons.
“We believe this is a frivolous motion that has been brought before Parliament by the African Transformation Movement [ATM]”Chief District Attorney Natasha Mazzone said in a statement.
“The ATM, a side project of the Zuma / Magashule faction in the ANC, is destined to fail without the majority support of the MPs. The two MPs from the ATM, together with a large part of the ANC MPs, will have to vote in favor – A step that can also place multiple Zuma / Magashule allies in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet on the cutting board.
“The motion, therefore, will not succeed and will only provide an entertainment break from Parliament’s work.
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