Parliament - The rift in the governing ANC over allegations of undue influence by the Gupta family over President Jacob Zuma and some of his ministers was laid bare on Thursday when an opposition motion to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into the matter was defeated by a mere 169 votes to 103.
Some smaller parties declined to support the motion, and the ANC has 249 seats out of 400 in the National Assembly, meaning at least 80 ANC MPs were either absent from the vote or failed to vote against the motion.
The party's lack of appetite for a fight in defence of Zuma was evident in the yawning gaps in its benches during the debate, prompting DA chief whip John Steenhuisen to question whether there would be a quorum at the start of the sitting, which also debated the funding crisis in higher education.
It was an indication of the toll on ANC morale of successive scandals relating to its president and the role its MPs have been forced to play in his defence, culminating in a finding by the Constitutional Court earlier this year that Parliament had failed in its constitutional duty to hold him to account over his rejection of an instruction by the public protector to repay some of the costs of Nkandla.
The ANC has been rocked by the outcome of the local government elections and its loss of three key metros, which some in the party have attributed to the scandals surrounding Zuma.
A number of ANC branches and former leaders have called on Zuma to go as the party wrestles with a proposal for an early conference to deal with the fallout from the elections.
The debate came a day after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his Mineral Resources counterpart, Mosebenzi Zwane, openly contradicted one another in Parliament over the need for a judicial inquiry (proposed in a bizarre statement by Zwane last week which he claimed was issued on behalf of the cabinet) into the decision of major banks to close the Guptas' accounts.
Opening the debate on the motion proposed by him, the DA's David Maynier said Zwane's behaviour was a perfect example of state capture, which threatened the institutional independence of the Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, calling the minister a "hired gun" of the Gupta family.
The EFF's Fana Mokoena said while it was sad that Parliament had to discuss "one corrupt and immoral family", it was necessary because corruption was taking money away from pressing needs like higher education and housing.
The National Freedom Party's Sibusiso Mncwabe said state capture was a form of corruption in which a powerful elite and business interests manipulated government processes for their own ends.
The "rise of the house of Gupta" had been facilitated by the greed of the political elite, he said.
But Mncwabe said his party would not support the motion to set up a parliamentary inquiry because there had been no such inquiry when the Verwoerd government introduced Bantu education to ensure the continued monopoly of the economy by a minority, which had been another example of state capture.
He said instead the voices of the people should be heard at election time.
The ANC, meanwhile, argued that the constitution, including the institutions it created to support democracy, remained the best protection against what it termed corporate capture.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu proposed an amendment to the DA motion which would have referred the allegations to the SAPS and Public Protector.
But Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli ruled that the amendment fell foul of the rules as it sought to change the scope of the original motion, and Mthembu's motion fell away. He then put Maynier's motion to the vote.
See Business Report
Rise of house of Gupta facilitated by greed of political elite
Vote over Guptas shows ANC apathy
THE RIFT in the governing ANC over allegations of undue influence by the Gupta family over President Jacob Zuma and some of his ministers was laid bare yesterday when an opposition motion to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into the matter was defeated by a mere 169 votes to 103.
THE RIFT in the governing ANC over allegations of undue influence by the Gupta family over President Jacob Zuma and some of his ministers was laid bare yesterday when an opposition motion to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into the matter was defeated by a mere 169 votes to 103.
This was despite the fact that some smaller parties declined to support the motion and the ANC's dominant 249 seats out of 400 in the National Assembly, meaning at least 80 ANC MPs were either absent from the vote or failed to vote against the motion.
The party's lack of appetite for a fight in defence of Zuma was evident in the yawning gaps in its benches during the debate, prompting DA chief whip John Steenhuisen to question at the start of the sitting, which also debated the funding crisis in higher education, whether there would be a quorum.
It was an indication of the toll on ANC morale of successive scandals relating to its president and the role its MPs have been forced to play in his defence, culminating in a finding by the Constitutional Court earlier this year that Parliament had failed in its constitutional duty to hold him to account over his rejection of an instruction by the public protector to repay some of the costs of Nkandla.
The ANC has been rocked by the outcome of the local government elections and its loss of three key metros, which some in the party have attributed to the scandals surrounding Zuma.
A number of ANC branches and former leaders have called on Zuma to go as the party wrestles with a proposal for an early conference to deal with the fallout from the elections.
The debate came a day after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his Mineral Resources counterpart, Mosebenzi Zwane, openly contradicted one another in Parliament over the need for a judicial inquiry, proposed in a bizarre statement by Zwane last week which he claimed was issued on behalf of the cabinet, into the decision of major banks to close the Guptas' accounts.
Opening the debate on the motion proposed by him, the DA's David Maynier said Zwane's behaviour was a perfect example of state capture, which threatened the institutional independence of the Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, calling the minister a "hired gun" of the Gupta family.
The EFF's Fana Mokoena said while it was sad that Parliament had to discuss "one corrupt and immoral family", it was necessary because corruption was taking money away from pressing needs like higher education and housing.
The National Freedom Party's Sibusiso Mncwabe said state capture was a form of corruption in which a powerful elite and business interests manipulated government processes for their own ends.
The "rise of the house of Gupta" had been facilitated by the greed of the political elite, he said.
But Mncwabe said his party would not support the motion to set up a parliamentary inquiry because there had been no such inquiry when the Verwoerd government introduced Bantu education to ensure the continued monopoly of the economy by a minority, which had been another example of state capture.
He said instead the voices of the people should be heard at election time.
The ANC, meanwhile, argued that the constitution, including the institutions it created to support democracy, remained the best protection against what it termed corporate capture.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu proposed an amendment to the DA motion which would have referred the allegations to the SAPS and Public Protector.
But Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli ruled that the amendment fell foul of the rules as it sought to change the scope of the original motion, and Mthembu's motion fell away.
He then put Maynier's motion to the vote.
Political Bureau