No secret ballot for no-confidence vote against Ramaphosa, unless court rules otherwise

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says Parliament will proceed with the vote of no confidence motion against President Cyril Ramaphosa via an open ballot as planned pending legal action.

This week, the African Transformation Movement (ATM) approached the Western Cape High Court on an urgent basis, seeking an order to declare Mapisa-Nqakula’s decision to reject the party’s request for a secret ballot unconstitutional and invalid.

Earlier this month, the Speaker ruled that an open ballot, rather than a secret ballot, will be held for the motion.

‘Irrational decision’

The party, which only has two seats in Parliament, has also asked the court to review the decision and have it set aside.

“[We want] the wrong and irrational decision of the Speaker of the National Assembly [to be] replaced with a decision that grants a secret ballot.

“The ATM has argued in its submission to the High Court that the Speaker’s decision is wrong for chiefly two reasons, namely that she contends that there is a default position in favour of an open ballot rather than a closed ballot.

ALSO READ: No-confidence motion: ATM to challenge open ballot decision

“This is an error in law because there is no such a position either in the rules of Parliament, in any legislation and certainly not in the Constitution,” the party said in a statement.

“Secondly the Speaker has repeated the same mistake of expecting the ATM to convince her instead of independently applying her mind with due regard to what is the best way of holding Members of the Executive accountable in manner that gives best effect to the duty placed the Constitution on Member of Parliament.

“The Speaker has completely ignored that the Constitution has held that there can be true accountability when Members of Parliament are protected by anonymity. The ATM contends that this matter is straight forward and backed by case law,” it added.

The ATM said it hoped the court would deliver a ruling in its favour before voting day.

The party’s motions against Ramaphosa will be debated and voted on 30 March.

‘All systems go’

Mapisa-Nqakula, during a Programming Committee meeting in the National Assembly on Thursday, noted the court action which will take place on 28 March.

“As far as we are concerned it’s all systems go… we will have the two motions on the 30th of March. If there are any changes as a result of a court ruling on the 28th then we will see how we respond to that,” she said.

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA‘s) vote of no confidence will also take place on 30 March.

DA leader John Steenhuisen lodged the motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa’s entire Cabinet last month.

READ MORE: ANC doesn’t belong to DA, says Mantashe after motion of no confidence bid

Meanwhile, opposition parties – including DA, the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) –  on Tuesday agreed that the motions should be held via a secret ballot. 

“There was general agreement that, as a matter of principle, all voting in Parliament should be in secret. This includes voting for motions of no confidence that the Speaker has already scheduled,” the parties said.

During the meeting, the opposition parties resolved to request a meeting with Ramaphosa and Mapisa-Nqakula to discuss these issues and other urgent matters facing Parliament and the country including the secret ballot matter.