Motion of no confidence: Mbete fiddles while SA burns

27 October 2016

A week ago, DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, stating the DA’s intention to table a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma, in terms of Section 102 of the Constitution and Rule 129 of the National Assembly.

Today, during the National Assembly Programme Committee I raised the matter, only for the Deputy Speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli, to state that he was waiting for the return of the Speaker before the DA’s request was processed. 

This is simply not an acceptable or credible response from Office of The Speaker. We can only conclude that this is a ploy to further protect President Zuma from scrutiny and accountability by the authoritative body which has the power to remove him from office.

Yesterday, President Zuma showed that he has no interest in or grasp of South Africa’s economic situation and its needs, when he slept through parts of the Finance Minister’s critical Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. This is an insult to the 8.9 million jobless South Africans.

The long and growing list of President Zuma’s lies, corruption and lawlessness is well documented and known by the people of South Africa, hence the growing calls, from all sectors of society and within the ANC, for President Zuma to either resign or to be removed from office.

The motion of confidence is critical in giving effect to these calls, especially the calls made by high-ranking ANC parliamentarians.

The DA will continue to push this matter because the longer President Zuma occupies the Union Building the further South Africa’s hard-won Constitutional Democracy regresses.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 27 October 2016