POLITICS

Opposition's plan to remove a democratically elected govt exposed – Office of ANC Chief Whip

Party says DA's latest move proves that ANC was correct in saying motion of no confidence was not about Zuma

DA plan to remove a democratically elected government exposed

9 August 2017

Hardly a day after the ANC correctly defeated the DA’s ploy to remove a democratically elected government in parliament through a motion of no confidence, the DA today announced that it will table a motion for the dissolution of parliament and call for early elections.

This confirms the correctness of the ANC in voting against yesterday's motion. This move by the DA exposes what the ANC has always stated, that the motion of no confidence in President Zuma is not about the President but an attempt at regime change through parliament.

This planned motion by the DA shows that the DA does not respect our democracy and the electorate of South Africa. They have no regard for the will of the people as expressed through the outcomes of the 2014 general elections where 62% of the electorate gave the ANC a mandate to govern this country until the next general elections. We will defeat this planned motion as we have defeated all other attempts by the opposition to overthrow our popularly elected government.

As the ANC in Parliament, we are vindicated that we indeed voted in the best interest of the country and the electorate who gave us a mandate to continue improving their lives. We thank ANC members of parliament who in their huge majority defended the democratic gains of the African National Congress and voted against the motion to remove President Zuma and our government.

The outcomes of yesterday’s vote indicate that there are more than 25 ANC members of parliament who voted with the opposition. We are deeply disappointed that some of our ANC members allowed themselves to be used by the opposition to fracture and weaken the ANC and destabilise our country. Our political nemesis and adversaries have shown that they will use any means to achieve their narrow political ends and the fact that some of our comrades collaborated with them and defied their party mandate is saddening. We therefore condemn their actions. We will give ourselves time to make a proper analysis of what needs to be done in this regard.

We’ve noted the reckless circulation of a list of ANC MPs who are purported to possibly have voted with the opposition yesterday. This list which includes comrade Thabo Manyoni who has long left parliament, and the ANC Chief Whip comrade Jackson Mthembu, is bogus and ought to be dismissed like all other lists which have emerged before this one. This list is a dangerous ploy to incite mistrust and initiate a witch hunt.

We’ve also noted that there were ANC members of parliament who were absent in yesterday’s sitting without having tendered an apology. Those members will be called to account on their absenteeism.

We restate that we are alive to the various concerns raised around issues of state capture and that thorough investigations must be conducted in order to unearth wrong doing and institute appropriate corrective measures where wrongs have been identified. We believe that parliament can play a prominent role in this regard because all entities mentioned in the public discourse around state capture are accountable to parliament.

We again restate the position of our organisation that a judicial commission of inquiry must be established as a matter of urgency to get to the bottom of these allegations.

Issued by Nonceba Mhlauli. Media Liaison Officer, Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 9 August 2017