SPEAKER Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says she will apply her mind to a request by the African Transformation Movement (ATM) for a secret ballot in a motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ATM tabled a fresh motion after the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in its favour last week.
The motion had been in court until the SCA ruled on it last week.
The spokesperson for Parliament, Moloto Mothapo, said the Speaker would apply her mind to the question of a secret ballot.
This was the genesis of the court application by the ATM as it said the political environment was toxic.
The then Speaker Thandi Modise had previously thrown out the request and the ATM filed court papers in the Western Cape High Court, where it also lost. The matter eventually landed up in the SCA.
Mothapo said Mapisa-Nqakula would apply her mind on whether to grant the request for a secret ballot.
“The ATM’s motivation draws parallels with the factors that prevailed in 2017 when the Constitutional Court (Concourt) delivered its judgment on the United Democratic Movement’s call for a secret ballot. The Concourt directed that a secret vote becomes necessary where the prevailing atmosphere is ‘toxified or highly charged’. The ATM argues, in their submission to the Speaker, that a closed ballot is the only rational possibility in the prevailing circumstances,” said Mothapo.
“Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula is applying her mind afresh, to the motivation of the ATM for a secret ballot. She will decide and announce her decision in due course. Last week’s Supreme Court of Appeal judgment affirmed the powers of the Speaker to decide the best mode or procedure of voting by members of the National Assembly, as she deems appropriate, informed by the prevailing context,” he said.
POLITICAL BUREAU