President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Photo: Dean Vivier)
- The president of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has rejected requests for a secret ballot on the Phala Phala report.
- The leaders of various political parties had asked him to reconsider his decision not to allow secret ballots.
- On Tuesday, MPs will decide the way forward on how Parliament will deal with the report.
Lawmakers will not vote in secret when deciding whether or not to adopt the Section 89 panel’s report on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala dealings.
On Monday night, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced that she had rejected requests to “reconsider her decision not to allow secret ballot to be used as a voting procedure”.
On Tuesday, the NA parliamentarians will decide the way forward, how Parliament will treat the report.
Leaders of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), the ACDP, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), the African Independent Congress (AIC) and the UDM wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula asking her to reconsider her decision to reject a secret ballot. .
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The ANC, on the other hand, wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula asking him to confirm his earlier decision.
“The Speaker, exercising her powers as provided by NA rules, is entitled to exercise her discretion in determining the method of voting to be employed in deciding questions before the House, where no method of voting is prescribed in the rules of the National Assembly. ”, said Parliament spokesman Moloto Mothapo.
According to Mothapo, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had a constitutional responsibility to consider all prevailing factors when exercising her discretion.
He said:
He stressed the importance of ensuring due attention to an accountability environment while maintaining transparency and openness.
Mapisa-Nqakula reiterated to opposition leaders that the parliamentary environment has always been a highly politicized space and could never be completely free of political tensions.
According to Mothapo, Mapisa-Nqakula said she did not believe the atmosphere was so intoxicated or charged that parliamentarians “would be prevented from exercising their vote on this issue according to their conscience through an open voting procedure.”
Mapisa-Nqakula also noted concerns about possible “vote buying.”
In his opinion, this could be facilitated by a cloud of secrecy, Mothapo said.
Mapisa-Nqakula told party leaders that therefore her position on this matter “stands and, consequently, I would not accede to your request for the use of a secret ballot.”
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The report, authored by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo and two others, found that Ramaphosa had a “prima facie” case to answer for contravening the Constitution and anti-corruption laws with his dealings at his Phala Phala farm in 2020.
Mapisa-Nqakula appointed the Section 89 inquiry panel under Ngcobo’s leadership following a motion by ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula for Ramaphosa’s removal for “a serious violation of the Constitution or law and gross misconduct” .
Ramaphosa was under immense pressure following the publication of the panel’s report, which made damning findings against him in connection with the theft of $580,000 (around R10 million) from his game farm, Phala Phala, in Limpopo.
