Cape Town – Over 805 000 e-mails have been sent to the Democratic Alliance’s newly launched online platform lobbying the African National Congress National Assembly caucus to support next week’s motion of no confidence debate in President Jacob Zuma, the DA said on Sunday.
“Further, our online petition supporting the motion and our call for all 72 ministers and deputy ministers to be excluded from the vote on the motion due to the glaring conflict of interest between their official responsibilities and their private interests has over 15 000 signatures,” DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said.
The DA had also written to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete asking that voting in the motion of no confidence be carried out via secret ballot to ensure that MPs were not threatened with fear of internal persecution and were able to vote with their conscience.
Zuma’s recklessness with the economy, including his disastrous decision to fire finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, had devastated South Africa’s economy and employment market, he said.
This coupled with revelations of “SARS Wars” brewing between the presidency, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and the ANC – which sent the rand plummeting last week – were clear indicators that Zuma was not fit to hold public office.
“A motion of no confidence is the best mechanism to ensure that President Zuma is removed from the presidency, and the DA urges members of the ANC who are deeply dissatisfied with President Zuma, to do what is right for South Africa and vote with their conscious on Tuesday,” Steenhuisen said.
African News Agency
* Use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.