The National Assembly. Image: GCIS.
Parliament Speaker rejects request for secret ballot vote over Phala Phala report
The Speaker of Parliament said a secret ballot vote would deprive citizens of seeing the positions of their representatives in the National Assembly.
The National Assembly. Image: GCIS.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, declined the African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) request to have the vote to adopt or reject the Section 89 report on the Phala Phala scandal done via a secret ballot.
NO SECRET BALLOT FOR TUESDAY’S DEBATE, SAYS SPEAKER
The report said there was prima facie evidence that President Cyril Ramaphosa violated his oath of office and broke anti-corruption laws after millions of rand in US dollars were stolen from his game farm in 2020.
The National Assembly will debate the report on Tuesday, 6 December, and if it is adopted, the President will face an impeachment inquiry.
ATM President Vuyo Zungula wrote to the Speaker on 1 December and requested that she consider allowing MPs to vote through a secret ballot following the debate.
The Speaker said she believed a closed voting procedure would deprive citizens of identifying the positions of their parliamentary representatives.
Mapisa-Nqakula added that a secret vote “may facilitate the possibility of corruption aimed at influencing members to vote in a manner where they will be shielded from accountability to the people they represent for the exercise of their constitutional duty.”
According to reports, the ANC National Working Committee (NWC) resolved that the official party line for MPs on Tuesday would be to reject the report.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was on the verge of resigning last week. After some consideration, it appears that he will challenge the report in court.
On Monday, it also emerged that the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Chief Whip, Siviwe Gwarube, rejected the Speaker’s decision not to use a roll-call voting system on Tuesday.
The roll-call system would see each MP called by name before voting for or against the motion.
The Speaker rejected the method as it is time-consuming. She also cited connectivity issues MPs might have with the virtual platform.
“Mapisa-Nqakula also declined the ATM’s request for a secret ballot. As things stand, MPs will vote by the usual method for hybrid sittings: each party’s whip will announce how many members they have present and whether they vote for or against the motion or abstain. If a member votes differently from their party, they have to announce this,” said Gwarube.
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