SACP call to ANC members of the National Assembly in regard to the DA’s Motion of No-Confidence
10 November 2016
Dear comrades,
We expect the ANC parliamentary caucus to vote unanimously against yet another DA Motion of No-Confidence in President Zuma. The SACP supports this position.
The context in which the DA has tabled today’s motion is, of course, the Public Protector’s “State of Capture” report. In opposing the DA motion it is important to appreciate the broader public reality, the deep concern of our own core constituencies about corruption and the dangers of corporate capture. In particular, there is a widespread conviction that the Gupta family has exercised a deeply corrosive effect on our constitutional democracy. The SACP has been a forthright critic of these realities over an extended period.
The reasons for voting against the DA motion today, and the posture that the ANC adopts in so doing are therefore extremely important. Any suspicion that the ANC is trying to cover up matters will further dent the moral standing of the ANC and therefore our broader Alliance.
The fundamental reason for voting against the DA motion is that, as the ANC’s National Working Committee statement indicated, it is premature. In effect, the motion disrespects the Public Protector’s report. It is common cause that, while the report raises many troubling and convincing issues, it makes no substantive findings of wrong-doing against any individual or entity.
However, the report on the "State of Capture" does make three substantive recommendations, namely to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the matters covered it covers; that Parliament must review the Executive Members’ Ethics Act; and that the office of the Public Protector must refer matters to the National Prosecuting Authority and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.
While any affected party has the right to take these recommendations on review in a court of law, it cannot be for Parliament, or the ANC caucus in Parliament, to second guess the outcome of such reviews. Let us, therefore, send a strong public message that we support the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry and request that it be given the opportunity to conclude its work expeditiously.
We also believe that the ANC’s parliamentary caucus should receive a report, before the conclusion of this parliamentary session, from the Speaker on the steps to be taken to review the Executive Members’ Ethics Act within the proposed 180 days contained in the remedial actions in the NPP’s report.
Contrary to the obvious agenda of the DA, which clearly does not expect to win its motion, this afternoon’s vote presents the ANC with the opportunity of regaining some moral high-ground – provided, of course, that the reasons for arguing that the motion is premature are correctly argued and on a principled basis.
Issued by the SACP, 10 November 2016
