Statement of opposition political parties represented in South Africa’s Parliament
17 August 2022
The forum of opposition political parties represented in South Africa's Parliament held its 3rd Meeting on the 17th of August 2022 in Johannesburg. This follows the two meetings that took place on the 3rd and 10th of August 2022 to deliberate on measures that we, as opposition political parties, should undertake to hold the President accountable in relation to the violation of many laws, his oath of office and the Constitution by Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa. While they attended the first 2 meetings, Democratic Alliance and the National Freedom Party sent their apology for today's meeting.
The following political parties, African National Congress, Freedom Front Plus, African Independent Congress, GOOD and Al-Jamah were invited and did not attend the meetings nor rendered any apology.
The forum of opposition political parties is comprised of the Democratic Alliance (DA); Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP); African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP); United Democratic Movement (UDM); National Freedom Party (NFP); African Transformation Movement (ATM); Congress of the People (COPE); Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). All of us as political parties agree on the following:
1. Parliament must hold President Cyril Ramaphosa accountable for the violation of laws, his oath of office and the Constitution in terms of what happened at Phala Phala farm where millions of US Dollars were hidden by Mr. Ramaphosa.
2. Opposition parties will initiate and participate in broader consultations with civil society organisations, opposition parties not represented in parliament, non-profit organisations, trade unions, and religious bodies to consolidate a common approach and response to hold the Executive and the President accountable. We will additionally use broad united front to discuss and develop a common approach on the so many socio-economic challenges confronting society including the rising cost of living, corruption, unemployment, electricity crisis and rising levels of crime.
3. The Public Protector should, as a matter of urgency and as required by law, release the report on the alleged breaches in Phala Phala. The law allows her to issue another report in the event the investigations is not complete.
4. The South African Reserve Bank, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the South African Revenue Services, and the South African Police Service must not be allowed to be part of a cover-up mission that seeks to hide and conceal the fact that the sitting President has violated the laws of this country, his oath of office and the Constitution.
5. Opposition parties will request a follow-up meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly to discuss all accountability issues, including the usage of a secret ballot for motions of no confidence.
6. Opposition parties will intensify our collective and individual court actions against the Speaker of the National Assembly and all other institutions that are attempting to suppress Parliament's constitutional obligations to hold the Executive and Parliament accountable.
7. Parliament must be physically convened to deal with all Parliamentary issues and its agenda.
With this background and solid agreements, we, as political parties, will work with all sections of society, including civil society formations, to engage in the following key activities and programmes:
1. We will jointly and individually submit the names of former Judges Mogoeng Mogoeng, Dikgang Moseneke, Bernard Ngoepe, and Yvonne Mokgoro to the Parliamentary Section 89 independent panel that will investigate the conduct of Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa.
2. We, as opposition political parties, support the proposal brought by the Democratic Alliance that Parliament must establish an ad hoc committee to investigate all the violations of the law by the President, members of the SAPS, members of the State Security Agency and all other members and institutions of the State that were involved in the commission and concealment of the crimes that occurred in Phala Phala.
3. All opposition parties, except the Democratic Alliance, agree that in the immediate, we will introduce a motion of no confidence in Mr. Ramaphosa. We believe that, as the leader of the opposition in Parliament, the DA should table the motion. We have assembled a team from amongst ourselves to hold a bilateral engagement with the DA to discuss and finalize the motion of no confidence as a complementary measure to holding Mr. Ramaphosa accountable.
4. We demand that the South African Reserve Bank, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the South African Revenue Services, National Prosecutions Authority, and the South African Police Service (Hawks) must act with integrity and immediately act on the violations of the law and the constitution by the sitting President.
5. We will as opposition political parties will engage in a picket to the office of the Public Protector on the 9th of September 2022 to demand the immediate release of the report on the violation of the Executive Ethics Code because the Executive Ethics Act prescribes that reports on investigations must be released within 30 days.
We as political parties are concerned that it has been more than 70 days since the Phala Phala violations were reported to the police and all the responsible institutions including the South African Reserve Bank, South African Revenue Services, the South African Police Service and the Financial Intelligence Centre have deliberately ignored the parliamentary questions and seemingly involved in the cover up to shield a sitting president.
We, as opposition political parties, which as per the 2021 Local Government elections outcome represent the majority of South Africans, call on all the people of South Africa and all formations to close ranks and unite against lawlessness and violations of South Africa's laws and the Constitution. We will do everything in our power to fight against all forms of wrongdoing and will never be intimidated by anyone.
We as opposition political deep our banners in remembrance of the 34 mineworkers who were murdered by the sitting government in Marikana 10 years ago, and express a concern that up to so far, there is still no one who has been arrested or held accountable.
Issued by DA, EFF, IFP, ACDP, UDM, ATM, NFP, COPE, PAC, 17 August 2022
