ATM ‘surprised’ as Ramaphosa no-confidence motion gets greenlight

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) were caught by surprise over the announcement that their motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa would be debated in parliament, saying they received the news via the media.

The ATM brought forward the motion over the sealing of the CR17 campaign bank statements, continued implementation of loading shedding and Ramaphosa’s failure to deal with unemployment in the country.

ATM spokesperson Sibusiso Mncwabe, however, told The Citizen that the party had not yet received any correspondence from National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise.

“At the moment we are unsure whether the motion will be heard next week because the national speaker has not communicated with us yet on the matter. We have only seen that the motion will take place in the media,” Mncwabe said.

“We were fighting against the motion being heard and conducted virtually as we are calling for a secret ballot, but we’ll see what parliament decides once they have reached out,” he added.

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Parliament has, however, confirmed that Ramaphosa would face his first motion of no confidence next week, after the ATM filed their motion in February this year.

The matter experienced delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic as parliamentary activities were temporarily halted.

The motion will be heard next Thursday, 3 December, parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed to The Citizen.

“The sitting over the motion of no confidence will not be virtual so all MPs will appear in the National Assembly next Thursday,” Mothapo said.

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