ANC ‘backtracking on Zuma vote’

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

President Jacob Zuma will be prayed over, to retain his leadership, ahead of the ANCs elective conference in Mangaung. File photo: Motshwari Mofokeng

Cape Town - Angry opposition parties rejected an offer from the ANC in Parliament on Wednesday night that the motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma be debated in February.

The eight parties backing the motion described the proposal as “phenomenal backtracking” on the part of ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga.

He told them on Wednesday that the party had no misgivings about debating a motion that was “serious in nature” - but that it should be scheduled for the week of February 26.

Motshekga, who had initially derided the motion as “frivolous”, reaffirmed his party’s “commitment to robust, open and free multiparty debates”.

But he made it clear the ANC had no appetite for the scrutiny of Zuma’s leadership ahead of the party’s elective conference in Mangaung.

Motshekga also said the programme for November 26 to December 7 entailed committee meetings, oversight visits and MPs’ international study tours.

“Cancelling these commitments or summoning back all MPs for a special sitting would place a significant administrative, logistical and financial burden to the institution,” he said.

In a joint statement, the parties accused the ANC of continuing to undermine the constitution, which provides for a majority vote to remove a sitting president through a motion of no confidence.

“He [Motshekga] is doing nothing more than manipulating Parliament to make sure that he reaches his same desired goal - protecting President Zuma from parliamentary scrutiny at all costs,” the statement said.

Judge Dennis Davis was expected to hand down judgment on Thursday morning on the urgent application brought by DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko for an order compelling National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu to schedule the debate for a vote.

Political Bureau