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Vote Of No Confidence Against Ramaphosa Postponed
4 December 2020
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The South African

Cyril Ramaphosa

The African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa, that was approved last week, has since been requested by the ATM to be postponed. The postponement was eventually approved and agreed to by Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise on Thursday 3 December 2020.

The ATM first submitted a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa back in February for continuous load shedding and economic decline. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown arrived.

MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE POSTPONEMENT GRANTED
Modise, in a letter dated 3 December, told President of the ATM Vuyolwethu Zungula that his request for a postponement of the motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa was “acceded to”.

“The motion is postponed pending consideration of the matter by the Programme Committee and will be rescheduled for debate and decision within a reasonable period of time given the programme of the Assembly in the new year,” said Modise.

“The Programme Committee will be requested to consider the implication of the postponement of the motion of no confidence, especially in light of Rule 90 (rule of anticipation) and a possible date in the new year for the consideration of the motion,” she added.

The ATM suggested a postponement while it awaits the outcome of their court application to ensure that voting is done via secret ballot.

“The basis of asking for postponement is that the ATM has launched proceedings before the Western Cape High Court, wherein the ATM seeks the court to review, and set aside the decision by the speaker to decline a vote by secret ballot,” Zungula said.

ANC HITS BACK AT ATM
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) said it would abstain from voting in a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa, the African National Congress (ANC) said the ATM is “wasting” Parliament’s time with a motion it knows will not succeed.

“There is simply no basis for the motion and is quite frivolous,” it said.

“They are displaying their fear of their irrelevance. Whatever the court decides, the ANC stands ready to defeat the motion,” it added.

“Accordingly, we urge ATM to focus its attention on inputs that would strengthen the Economic Transformation and Recovery plan led by the president so that together we can set the country’s economy on an irreversible upward trajectory,” it added.