DA declines No Confidence Motion for now, pushes for transparent ad hoc committee in Parliament

17 August 2022

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has made the decision to not support the other opposition parties in their bid to move a Motion of No Confidence (MONC) in President Cyril Ramaphosa at this stage.

It remains our view – as previously argued in the meetings with the opposition parties – that the Section 89 Inquiry process, which has been initiated by the ATM, should be given the requisite time and runway to be properly exhausted in Parliament.

This is a historic moment in the National Assembly where Parliament has, through the newly adopted rules, given effect to the spirit and prescripts of Section 89 of the Constitution. Parties now are engaged with nominating candidates for the independent panel that will ascertain the veracity of these allegations against President Ramaphosa. We will be following this process closely.

Crucially, we believe moving a MONC simultaneously with the Section 89 Inquiry will undermine the results we seek from this process – holding President Ramaphosa accountable and ensuring that Parliament does its oversight work in this regard. Additionally, it would signal that we have no confidence in the impeachment process which has now been initiated.

Ultimately, we need to ensure that in we take the people of South Africa along with us in all that we do. While the two processes (MONC and Section 89 Inquiry) will hold the President and his executive to account in different ways, we are of the opinion, to fully give effect to each and not lose the public in the process, we ought to pursue the grave allegations around the Phala Phala Farm vigorously.

To that end, we will continue exploring our options – legal and parliamentary – on the issue of establishing the ad hoc committee in Parliament. This is important because it is the only way we can ascertain the facts around what appears to be a grand cover-up by the President and those who are connected to him on this matter. An ad hoc committee will have the powers to summon witnesses, conduct oversight and truly uncover the facts that are being hidden behind processes. This is why we intend to challenge the Speaker’s ruling in this regard.

It is not uncommon for parties to agree on broad principles of accountability and transparency but differ on how we pursue those. As the DA we are seeking to use the avenue of the ad hoc committee and the Section 89 Inquiry to get to the bottom of the grave allegations facing the President before we can consider a section 102 Motion of No Confidence.

We remain committed to working with the various opposition parties in Parliament. We believe that a strong opposition is crucial for a healthy democracy. That is why we in agreement with the collective about using Parliament as the vehicle to pursue the truth on this matter and bring those who have broken the law to book.

Issued by Siviwe Gwarube, Spokesperson of the Official Opposition, 17 August 2022