ANC slams DA’s ‘no confidence motion’ call

THE DA’s motions of no confidence have become “ritualistic practices founded on spurious allegations and narrow political motives rather than substance”.

That’s the opinion of the ANC chief whip in the National Assembly‚ whose office said it would not support the motion‚ which is aimed at removing President Jacob Zuma from office.

“Since the start of the current term of parliament‚ which is just over two years old‚ a total of seven motions have been tabled by the opposition‚” the chief whip’s office said.

With the new motion “ostensibly on account of the public protector’s State of Capture report‚ the DA is deliberately putting the cart before the horse”, the statement added.

“The report of the public protector has not made any definitive guilty findings or conclusive orders against any implicated individual‚ let alone President Jacob Zuma.

“Instead‚ it has brought to the fore a widerange of crucial but inconclusive matters which must be thoroughly dealt with by a judicial commission of inquiry.

“The frivolity of this motion is that it claims guilt of state capture on the part of the president when none in fact exist in the report.

“Parliament and the nation are therefore dragged into the opposition’s petty games of political stunts and posturing.”

DA leader Mmusi Maimane yesterday took issue with the ANC’s criticism of its motion as “frivolous”‚ saying this “undermines the executive oversight authority of the National Assembly and it shows a narrow understanding of the constitution”.

He said the action “presents the ANC with an opportunity to show that it is the listening and humble organisation it proclaims to be”.

It also “presents the National Assembly’s 400 members … with a choice between President Jacob Zuma’s continued stranglehold on the country’s constitutional democracy or the development of South Africa and her people”‚ Maimane added.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had on Tuesday‚ following a meeting of the party’s national working committee‚ said that opposition parties calling for a motion of no confidence in Zuma was a reflection of “their growing arrogance rather than reality”‚ and urged its members not to “play to the gallery”.

But Maimane countered this yesterday, saying: “The issue of President Zuma is not a matter for Luthuli House to deal with internally‚ because the only house with a constitutional mandate and responsibility to act is the National Assembly. It is therefore incumbent upon the National Assembly’s ANC members‚ who derive their mandate from the people and constitution‚ to act in terms of the highest law in the land and to respond to the calls of the people for President Zuma to be removed from office.” — TMG Digital