PROCESS GUIDELINES FOR VOICE OR ROLL CALL VOTING DURING THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SITTING TO CONSIDER SECTION 89 REPORT
Parliament, Tuesday 13 December 2022 – The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has determined that the consideration of the report of the Independent Panel established in accordance with Rule 129A-Q to conduct a preliminary inquiry relating to a motion proposing an enquiry in terms of Section 89 of Constitution will be decided on a voice or roll call voting procedure.
Rule 104 of the NA Rules, which details a manual voting procedure, provides – amongst others – that where no electronic voting system is in operation, a manual voting system may be used in accordance with a procedure predetermined by the Speaker and directives to be announced by the presiding officer.
During the voting proceedings, this afternoon the NA members list will be used as the voters roll, the House secretariat will call each member according to parties and members will need to confirm their vote by voice when their name is called.
Once a division has been demanded and the bells rung for the stipulated time, the doors to the Chamber will be locked and no member will be allowed to enter or leave the Chamber until the result of the division has been declared.
Political parties have been requested to provide a list of members, who will be called first when it is their party’s turn to vote. After a party’s list has been called the remaining members of the party will be called alphabetically.
The Secretary will call each member from the Membership List, starting with those from the Majority Party and members will be called by their surname followed by their initials.
Members of political parties will be called in the following order – the African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance, the Economic Freedom Fighters, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Freedom Front Plus, the African Christian Democratic Party, the United Democratic Movement, the African Transformation Movement, the GOOD Party, the National Freedom Party, the African Independent Congress, the Congress of the People, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the ALJAMA’AH.
When a member is called, the member must indicate whether they are for or against the question, or whether they wish to abstain. In this regard, they must indicate their vote by only indicating “yes”, “no” or “abstain”. This does not apply to a Minister or Deputy Minister who is not a member of the House.
Rule 112(2) states that when the doors have been barred, no member may enter or leave the Chamber until the result of the division has been declared and Rule 115 states, amongst others, that every member present in the Chamber when the question is put with the doors barred must vote or record an abstention. Only members who are present when a vote is called shall be permitted to vote and the response from each member will be captured by tellers in the Chamber.
At the conclusion of the voting process, the tellers will hand the voting records to the Table, who will thereafter confirm that all votes have been recorded and are accurately reflected and tallied. When members’ votes have been counted, the presiding officer must immediately announce the result of the division.
If the manual voting procedure permits, members’ names, and votes must be printed in the Minutes of Proceedings.
Issued by Parliament, 13 December 2022
