PHUTI MOSOMANE
NATIONAL Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has declined the African Transformation Movement’s request for a secret ballot during Tuesday’s vote on Section 89 independent panel’s report.
Last week Thursday, ATM President Vuyo Zungula wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula requesting that she consider allowing MPs to vote through a secret ballot following the debate on the Section 89 panel report.
The Speaker is empowered to exercise her discretion in determining the voting method to be employed to decide questions before Parliament where no voting method is prescribed in the Rules of the National Assembly.
In her letter to the ATM, Mapisa-Nqakula said she believes that a closed voting procedure will deprive the citizens of identifying the positions of their representatives across party lines, adding that this may facilitate the possibility of corruption aimed at influencing members to vote in a manner where they will be shielded from accountability to the people they represent for the exercise of their constitutional duty.
“The Speaker also said she had to balance Mr Zungula’s reasons for a secret ballot procedure against other imperatives, including the foundational Constitutional principle of “openness”, as set out in Section 1(d) of the Constitution which guides SA democratic order. Furthermore, the Speaker said the Constitutional requirement, as set out in Section 59(1)(b), that the National Assembly must conduct its proceedings in an open manner was also an important consideration in this case,” Parliament said in a statement on Monday.
On Monday, EFF leader Julius Malema said he was looking forward to seeing democracy in action on Tuesday when members of Parliament vote on the Phala Phala report.
Malema said opposition parties were united behind a call to hold President Ramaphosa accountable.
“Our worry is not the ANC. Our worry is the DA, Malema said adding that he was not worried about the ANC MPs.
According to Malema, senior ANC members such as Ministers Dr. Nkosazana Zuma, and Lindiwe Sisulu, and Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation Supra Mahumapelo have all openly called Ramaphosa to resign.
Malema said he was expecting some ANC MPs to raise their hands on Tuesday.
In 2017, about 26 ANC MPs voted with opposition parties on a failed motion of no confidence in the then President Jacob Zuma.
Cabinet ministers Pravin Gordhan, Derek Hanekom, Mondli Gungubele, and Makhosi Khoza openly said they would vote with opposition in support of a motion of no confidence back in 2017.
Gungubele, a staunch Ramaphosa defender, is now against MPs voting with their “conscience”.
Malema said: “It’s just a matter of hours, the man will be gone, and if the ANC votes against the panel, we will meet in court.”
INSIDE POLITICS
