The Democratic Alliance(DA) will table a motion of no confidence in Gauteng Premier David Makhura during the sitting of the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The party says the premier should take responsibility for the deaths of 144 mentally-ill patients who perished in the Esidimeni tragedy.
The DA only has 23 seats while the African National Congress(ANC) has 40 and the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) eight seats.
DA Gauteng leader John Moodey says he hopes the members of the legislature will vote with their conscious.
He says: “We want to achieve the objective of having David Makhura removed as the premier and there is 144 reasons for that. 144 mentally ill, most vulnerable people lost their lives under the most disturbing heinous circumstances and many hundreds more mentally ill people suffered.”
The ANC has dismissed as frivolous the DA’s move against Premier Makhura.
ANC Gauteng secretary general Hope Papo says Makhuram, who is also the acting ANC chairperson in Gauteng, was never implicated in both the Health Ombudsman and Esidimeni Arbitration reports.
“We want to understand what the DA wants. The premier is implementing all the decisions of the Health Ombudsman and arbitrator Justice Moseneke. The motion will be defeated by the ANC majority. The DA must actually respect the intelligence of the people of the province.”
