Open ballot ‘defies logic’, says party president

The contentious nature of the requested secret ballot voting in a motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa could have been avoided had the National Assembly handled the issue better.

This is according to president of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Vuyolwethu Zungula, who said a tedious back and forth had taken place since February this year – more than a month before the country went into hard lockdown due to Covid-19.

Zungula told The Citizen that National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise’s handling of the party’s request to vote by secret ballot in the no-confidence motion was “disturbing”.

“Things could have been worked out much earlier.

“We kept asking for an e-mail trail about the letter and who it would have been sent to, but they didn’t have that information.

“We asked if it was hand-delivered and they didn’t have that, either.

“The biggest contention in the motion is not the timing, but the matter of voting.”

Zungula said despite the ATM sending its letter requesting a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa on 6 February and reminding Modise in September to respond urgently, it only received correspondence on 26 November.

This gave the party roughly one week to respond to a letter Modise’s office sent to it on 5 March, which was only received last week.

“From last Thursday until now, this is very little time for us to effectively argue internal processes on the secret ballot.

“Had we known in March, this would not have happened,” said Zungula.

This is especially relevant because the secret ballot request in the motion was stipulated in their first communications to Modise, Zungula said.

In a debate held by the National Assembly programme committee on the ATM’s proposal, which took place on 26 November, Modise rejected that the motion be voted on through a secret ballot. She cited Section 1(d) of the constitution, which states openness as “a fundamental principle for our democracy”.

She also said the ATM “had not offered any evidence of a highly charged atmosphere or intimidation of any members in the motivation for their request”. Zungula begged to differ. He referenced ANC members burning T-shirts emblazoned with Ramaphosa’s face in Bloemfontein, when MPs were present.

“There is also the issue of opposition parties receiving financial benefits from the ANC.

“This means they aren’t going to be independent and play an oversight role in keeping the executive accountable,” he said.