MPs warned over no-confidence vote
POLICE Minister Fikile Mbalula said if ANC members of parliament vote according to their conscience and not according to the party line on the motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma, they will be disciplined.
He was speaking at a media briefing yesterday at the ANC national policy conference in Johannesburg.
The debate on the vote of no confidence will take place on August 8 following a ruling by the Constitutional Court last week that it was within National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete’s powers to decide whether or not the vote can be done by secret ballot.
“The ANC discipline in relation to ANC members in parliament is very clear‚” Mbalula said.
“They are accountable to the party structure‚ they are deployees and they take their mandate from the national executive committee (NEC).
“The NEC has debated at length the question of the motion of no confidence in the president and that decision has been announced to all members of the organisation‚ that we will not withdraw our president from parliament.”
Mbalula said the party would not withdraw the president from the executive either.
All party members in terms of ANC discipline were supposed to follow that particular and clear position‚ he said.
“To the extent to which people will be ill-disciplined‚ the ANC will have to apply the disciplinary procedure for those who want to use the so-called conscience to determine their voting in parliament,” Mbalula said.
“If that were to occur‚ quite clearly‚ it would have been against the decision of the ANC.”