Our new beginning lies in a post-ANC South Africa

Today's Motion of No Confidence result is closer than anyone expected. The result reveals an ANC that is totally divided against itself. Jacob Zuma has survived, but he has nothing to celebrate tonight. He is mortally wounded, and his party is in tatters. Tonight's result, despite the slender victory, signals the death of the ANC.

The brave ANC members that voted to defend our democracy today should realise that their home no longer resides in the ANC but in becoming part of the movement for the new beginning. That beginning starts now.

It’s time for a new beginning that will bring total change in South Africa. Today's result is not a cause for despair. It should serve as motivation to South Africans to organise, get involved and help build a new government in 2019. That is the only way we can achieve the new beginning we need!

The outcome of the Motion of No Confidence illustrates what South Africans already know; the ANC cannot self-correct. The ANC still supports Zuma, because he is not an anomaly within the ANC, he is the norm. Jacob Zuma is the manifestation of what the ANC has become - a toxic mix of corruption, cronyism and nepotism.

The only way to stop the decay and get our country moving forward again is to remove the ANC.

Despite some ANC members of Parliament speaking out before the Motion today, the party machinery made it abundantly clear that in their organisation there is a complete disregard for what is right - it is about putting Luthuli House above the Constitution.

This is also not the end of the road for Jacob Zuma. He still has 783 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering to answer for and we will see him in the Supreme Court of Appeal on the 14th and 15th of September to argue that both of his appeals should be dismissed.

As proud South Africans, we must remain hopeful. This is not the end for our young democracy - it’s simply the end of the ANC. South Africa is now truly on the cusp of a new beginning. And our new beginning lies in a post-ANC South Africa.

Come 2019, all South Africans have the constitutional right to change the status quo and usher in a new beginning – a post-ANC coalition-led government that puts the people and their interests first.

The DA will continue its project of building a new beginning for South Africa - a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa that is prosperous and reclaims its role as a beacon of hope on the continent.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane MP, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 8 August 2017