Opposition parties in Parliament have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision taken by the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in refusing to allow a secret ballot on the upcoming votes of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet ministers. The two motions expected to be conducted on 30 March, were requested by the African Transformation Movement and the Democratic Alliance.
Mapisa-Nqakula on Thursday during the National Assembly Programming Committee meeting announced that she has taken a decision based on a legal opinion she received that the voting on the motions should take place through an open ballot.
Some opposition benches have described Mapisa-Nqakula’s position as lacking rationality. The motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa is called by the member of the African Transformation Movement Vuyolwethu Zungula, while Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has requested a motion against all cabinet ministers under Ramaphosa’s administration.
The bone of contention is that members who do not want to toe the party line during the voting process will not be protected if the exercise is done openly.
According to Mapisa-Nqakula, voting on both motions will be done simultaneously on the same day. But it was the method that is going to be used during the casting of the votes that has caused unhappiness in the opposition benches. Freedom Front Plus MP Corner Mulder tried to get clarity from the Speaker.
“Madam Speaker, I have raised my hand, I just want to make sure if you say the vote will be open, it means it won’t be a secret ballot? And secondly, you are also saying the whips will pronounce on behalf of members and members will not pronounce openly themselves in terms of the way they vote? My understanding has always been that if we vote-the whips will pronounce on the votes. However, if there is anyone who wants to vote differently from the position of their parties, members will be free to do so.”
Opposition parties explain their disapproval
In 2017, the then Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete lost a court case after refusing a vote in a motion of no confidence to be conducted in a secret ballot against the former President Jacob Zuma. Mapisa-Nqakula sought to justify that she does not want this to happen again.
“I have since done that. I have granted the ATM reasons why I believe it would be in the interests of transparency, of our democracy in Parliament while we exercise this freedom openly and you know, I have not heard of the intimidation of members and that’s the first thing we need to do.”
But Democratic Alliance (DA) Deputy Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube did not agree on this line of the Speaker.
“ The reality is that there can be things that may be legally sound but they cannot make sense when it comes to the issue of accountability and how we have to do our jobs. It makes no sense that the cabinet, whose futures are on the line, have to vote for themselves in a motion that concerns themselves, and they have to vote for themselves through the whip that is in Parliament. “
The DA says President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to take action against some cabinet members who are failing in their duties:
But Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Member of Parliament Narend Singh appealed to the Speaker to allow all parties to inform their respective caucuses about her decision before any resolution on the matter is taken.
“I have what is called a caucus. I will take the matter to my caucus and see whether they want to take this matter any further or not. I don’t think it’s fair for me without the mandate of the caucus and want to debate the issue by expressing my personal view on the matter. So, I would suggest that we have two weeks now that we have an official ruling from yourself, we have two weeks to write to your office and say we agree or we don’t agree and provide legal evidence, we say why or the other. So, I would like to suggest to colleagues that we leave the matter at that.”
It is a suggestion that Mapisa-Nqakula has seemed to accept.
“ I thought really we would seriously consider what was raised by Honourable Singh which is that he will go to his party and that gives other honourable members a chance to do the same thing. But the matter is as much as I have ruled on the matter, that this is even provided in our own rules that even in a hybrid sitting we are allowed to exercise our votes and we are allowed to express our freedom of expression and the diversity of views. These are expressed on a hybrid system.”
