Motion of No Confidence is about South Africa and its future, not politics
1 March 2016
Today, in Parliament’s Motion of No Confidence vote, all 249 ANC Members of Parliament (MPs) will have to choose between their loyalty to South Africa and its people, and their loyalty to President Jacob Zuma.
Following Zuma’s unthinkable decision to fire Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene last year, I wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, requesting that Parliament debates and votes on a Motion of No Confidence in Jacob Zuma, at the earliest available opportunity in 2016. This requested was granted and will go ahead today.
South Africans demand that Jacob Zuma be taken to task for his reckless handling of our economy, and his sending South Africa into financial crisis – and a Motion of No Confidence is the best mechanism to ensure that President Zuma is fired, once and for all. It has become common cause that under Jacob Zuma’s leadership, our country is spiralling downward – and doing so at an alarmingly fast rate. With President Zuma at the head of our economy, the hope of a better life for all South Africans will never become a reality.
If the ANC really does represent the people of South Africa and have their best interests at heart, then a vote of no confidence in President Zuma ought to be unanimously agreed upon by the ANC caucus.
This Motion of No Confidence is not like any other that proceeded it; this motion is about the 8.2 million South Africans who will never find a job as long as President Jacob Zuma has one.
That is why for this Motion of No Confidence, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has attempted to create a voting environment whereby ANC MPs are able to vote with their conscience, and not with the fear of persecution and internal ramifications. A voting environment whereby ANC MPs can truly represent the will of the people, and not the will of one man.
That is why I wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, requesting that voting in the Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma be done via secret ballot.
That is why I personally wrote to all 72 cabinet ministers and deputy ministers – who are also members of parliament – calling on them to recuse themselves from voting in the Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma, on the grounds of a direct constitutional conflict of interest.
That is why the DA launched an online toolkit through which members of the public could write to ANC members of Parliament and ask them to support the Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma. Over 1.4 million letters lobbying the ANC National Assembly Caucus to support today’s Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma have been sent through our online platform.
That is why the DA launched an online petition giving South Africans the opportunity to show their support for the motion, with over 18 000 South Africans having signed this petition to date.
That is why DA MPs personally lobbied ANC MPs - who are deeply dissatisfied with the current status quo - to support today’s Motion of No Confidence.
The DA has worked hard to ensure that this Motion of No Confidence will succeed. But this is certainly not about party-politics. Rather this is millions of South Africans urging ANC MPs to put our country first and vote with their conscience in this Motion of No Confidence. All 249 ANC MPs have an opportunity to place the country and its interests before the ANC.
The DA will continue to lead the fight for economic freedom for all South Africans by ensuring our economy grows and creates new jobs for the 8.2 million jobless South Africans.
The first step towards that is for Jacob Zuma to be removed as President.
Statement issued by DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, 1 March 2016
