By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will face the first motion of no confidence in his leadership on March 30. This will be the same day his cabinet’s fitness for office will also be called into question.
National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced on Thursday morning that both motions would be held.
“The scheduling of the two motions of no confidence in the president and in cabinet … I will provide feedback, but for now we are proposing the date of March 30 for both the debate and the voting for these two motions which have been submitted by both the ATM and the DA,” she said.
She rejected a DA request that members of the executive should not participate in the process because of a possible conflict of interest.
“I have ruled that members of the executive will participate in the debate and will also participate in the vote because they are first and foremost members of parliament before they are members of the executive,” she said.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) and the DA tabled the two motions respectively with the ATM taking Parliament to court over a secret ballot.
However, Mapisa-Nqakula told members of the programming committee on Thursday that this would be an open ballot.
Mapisa-Nqakula was unmoved, saying she had already received a legal opinion on the matter and that it was her prerogative to decide on the voting.