ATM wants Ramaphosa motion of no confidence to be held in secret

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is not backing down on its call for the motion of no confidence vote in President Cyril Ramaphosa to be held via secret ballot. ATM, which sought the motion, will be approaching the courts to force National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise, to hold the vote in secret.

Modise declined the party’s initial request, saying it had failed to prove that members of Parliament (MPs) were subjected to a highly charged atmosphere or intimidation.

ATM: Modise wants to ‘suppress democracy’

ATM had given Modise until Monday, 30 November 2020, to reconsider, however, she opted against it.

“We got notification last night that the speaker does not want to review the position. The president said I must make a clear announcement that the ATM is going to go to court on this. We are going to challenge the irrational decision of the speaker. We are going to challenge that the speaker wants to suppress democracy,” the party’s Head of Policy, Mzwanele Manyi said in an interview with eNCA.

ATM had filed the motion with the speaker in February, before the country went under lockdown, citing his financial obligations in his CR17 campaign, the state of the economy and state-owned enterprises.

“…the sixth administration has turned out to be the most advised administration since the dawn of democracy, with a number of advisory bodies and various envoys whose advice, it seemed, was falling on deaf ears or was being poorly implemented,” the party said at the time.

The motion is set to be held on Thursday, 3 December 2020 in Parliament. In order for the motion to be successful, a two-thirds majority is required.

Ramaphosa MONC – Will MPs support it?

By the looks of things, Ramaphosa will survive this motion – but one can never tell. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament has indicated it would not be supporting the motion, as it doesn’t believe in its intentions.

“We do not believe that this is a genuine motion to hold the president to account,” the DA’s Siviwe Gwarube is quoted as saying to IOL.

In response, ATM spokesperson Sibusiso Mncwabe said:

“The person who continues with those allegations and assumptions doesn’t stay in South Africa because those who are residents of this country know that a number of people who have made those allegations have come up and apologise to us, including the media”