ANC MPs can’t be punished for voting against Zuma – Motlanthe

African National Congress (ANC) MPs should not be punished for voting in favour of a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma, so says former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.

In an interview with Daily Maverick, Motlanthe said to vote against Zuma would not be an offence in terms of the ruling party’s constitution.

On Thursday, the ANC’s parliamentary caucus said in a statement its MPs would not be supporting the motion tabled by opposition parties in Parliament, following President Zuma’s sweeping Cabinet reshuffle last week, which saw 10 ministers fired from their posts, to much public outrage.

The party’s MPs are facing threats of disciplinary action, should they vote in favour of the motion set to be debated during a special setting in the National Assembly on April 18.

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu described the motion tabled by the DA, EFF, and UDM as disingenuous and unfortunate, saying it sought to “suggest that ANC MPs are free agents open to all sorts of mischievous lobbying and manipulation by the opposition and other forces”.

Motlanthe said ANC members who faced disciplinary action would have to receive a notice stating the charges against them according to the acts of misconduct set out in Rule 25 of the ANC constitution.

He said there was no ANC policy on this issue, nor were there acts of misconduct relating to voting against the president in Parliament, as they were public representatives and not an ANC structure.

“Those people are not hirelings of the ANC. They are public representatives. They take an oath as parliamentarians to be public representatives. They can’t be treated the same way as you treat an ANC branch,” he said.

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