Parties to abstain in motion of no confidence

AS the African Transformation Movement (ATM) was yesterday bracing itself for a court battle over the rejection of their request for a secret ballot in today's motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa, some opposition parties said they would abstain from the vote.

ATM said it was scheduled to appear in the Westen Cape High Court to get an order forcing National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise to review her decision to refuse a secret ballot.

ATM spokesperson Sibusiso Mncwabe claimed their urgent application to review Modise's decision was to be heard.

Mncwabe said yesterday their lawyers were in court.

However spokesperson Moloto Mothapo told Independent Media that they had not been served with court papers.

The Western Cape High Court High could not be reached to verify if there was a scheduled hearing or not.

DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said her party would abstain from voting in today's motion of no confidence.

"We believe that this is a frivolous motion which has been brought before Parliament by the African Transformation Movement," Mazzone said.

She also said the motion was destined to fail without the majority support of MPs.

"The DA's decision to abstain from the vote does not mean that we will not hold the President accountable.

“By abstaining, we are placing President Ramaphosa on notice, because if he does not implement his economic reform strategy, as promised, we will certainly, in future, reconsider our decision to abstain from such a motion," Mazzone said.

Congress of the People (Cope) said as long as the opposition parties were not united, they would be wasting their time in bringing motions of no confidence against Ramaphosa.

"We can see that the country is in serious trouble and the answer is that we must unite and bring right-minded people together," Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said.

Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Petrus Groenewald said that no governing party in the world would allow another party to get rid of its leader.

"The aim of ATM to get ANC support is very opportunistic and will not succeed. It is nothing else but part of the factionalism in the ANC.

“We will abstain from the motion of no confidence," Groenewald said.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the Constitutional Court had in 2017 made a seminal ruling that the Speaker of the National Assembly has the power to decide on whether a vote could be made in secret.

Holomisa also said the court had stated that if voting was to expose identities, it would prevent members from voting according to their individual conscience without undue influence.

Holomisa said his party was not convinced of the arguments made by Modise to decline the secret ballot.

"As a matter of principle, the UDM will therefore not be participating in tomorrow's debate and vote of no confidence in his excellency Cyril Ramaphosa," he said.

ATM had pleaded with opposition parties to support their bid to remove Ramaphosa.

"MPs are called upon to put South Africa first by supporting this no confidence motion," Mncwabe said in a statement.