Mbete says no-confidence vote in Zuma to get all her attention

In an urgent press conference called on Sunday afternoon at OR Tambo International Airport, Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete said she would be consulting stakeholders over the next few days to determine what steps should be taken in the application by the opposition to table another vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.

Reading a prepared statement, she said she would be considering the multiparty delegation of parliament’s request as a matter of urgency.

She had to cut short her working visit to Bangladesh to attend to this matter, which she says is a constitutional priority.

Parliament is officially only meant to reconvene on May 9, but Mbete may agree to schedule the motion for earlier, as requested by the EFF’s Julius Malema and other opposition MPs.

Malema has said he would ask for a court order to compel the reopening of parliament should Mbete not accede to the request.

She said she had received a number of letters from opposition parties, and, on Friday, they asked her to reconvene parliament earlier.

Mbete said the rules for such a motion included that the chief whip of the ANC and the president of South Africa needed to be consulted. She pointed out that MPs were currently consulting with their constituencies, which is why parliament is in recess.

She said she would nevertheless set in motion the consultation process and conclude it as soon as possible, whereafter she would write to the opposition and inform them of the outcome.

Mbete said: “I am alive to the extreme challenges and sense of anxiety our young democracy is going through at this moment. Our people are looking to parliament to play its part and exercise its constitutional responsibilities … to demonstrate decisive leadership.”

She said the legislative arm of the state did not take this lightly and it would rise to the occasion.

She at first declined to answer questions about her role in the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), where she is the party’s chairperson, but then did offer an answer.

The top six of the ANC are understood to be deeply divided over the latest cabinet reshuffle, which saw five ministers axed.

“I was there when that briefing [by President Jacob Zuma on his intention to institute a reshuffle] was given. And he was thorough.”

She said the reason given for Gordhan’s axing was not only the intelligence report that Gordhan was plotting with foreign governments to overthrow Zuma.

“I would like to end that one – on the reshuffle – by saying that the fact that there have been differences of opinion should not be surprising. We allow people in the ANC to have their differences and to express their differences.

“But it’s not a free-for all. We have always prevailed on our cadres that the one with the specific role to speak on behalf of the organisation should do that.”

She said the top six and its national working committee would speak with more of a concerted voice after meeting on Monday.

“The one thing we have learnt in the past is that our people always express disquiet about us differing in public. They expect of us as leaders to deal with our issues and come back when we can give a message to give South Africa out there the assurance that things are under control.”

She said they would now get together and address the public in a manner that would reassure it.

Mbete later told journalists that it was highly unlikely a secret ballot would be allowed in parliament, as the rules simply do not allow for it.