#NoConfidence: South Africans must unite as a date is set for the end of Zuma’s ruinous presidency

The DA welcomes the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to schedule the DA-sponsored Motion of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma for 3 August.

I have twice written to the Speaker since the Constitutional Court ruled on the matter of the secret ballot on 22 June. Finally, we have been given a date.

We call on Mbete to timeously apply her mind and make a decision on the secret ballot, as the Constitutional Court reaffirmed is within her discretion.

South Africans should be buoyed by the fact that Jacob Zuma’s ruinous presidency could come to an end in a month’s time. All that is required is for their representatives in Parliament, irrespective of party affiliation, to do the right thing.

Zuma’s presidency has been an unrelenting and unmitigated disaster for this country, especially for those unable to find work who now number a staggering 9.3 million people.

It is the recent revelations of state capture and the weekly revelations of how the Gupta and Zuma families colluded to loot and pillage the state that should leave individual Members of Parliament with no doubt in their minds how they should vote on 3 August.

The end of the Zuma presidency is in sight. South Africans should use the coming weeks to unite in purpose and make it clear to those who represent their voices in Parliament that when the Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma is put to the House, they must vote with a resounding “AYE”. We call on all South Africans to join the DA and take to the streets on 3 August to bid Zuma and his cronies ‘good bye’.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 30 June 2017