Motion of no confidence Cyril Ramaphosa

But opposition MPs spoke eloquently to popular discomfort with a ruling collective that includes ministers fingered for corruption.

“I know there are some of you who want to tell a different story, a story of courage in the face of intimidation. However, today represents a unique opportunity, not only for members of the opposition who share our view of this cabinet, but for members of the ANC who no longer want to be lampooned with the rotten apples of this bag. “It [the ANC] is now littered with criminals, crooks and the most unsavoury of characters.

But it's the fraught interchanges on the motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa that showcased fractured parliamentary politics. That Wednesday's ...

“[S]uch motions constitute a regular feature in the political repertoire of these and other political parties. This did not seem to apply to the ANC MPs who gathered at a nearby outside venue. For the sole purpose of rewarding otherwise unemployable cadres with jobs. Only the merits of a matter before courts should not be discussed, according to Rule 89. In correspondence seen by Daily Maverick, the Speaker said she did “not have the power”, and kicked the matter back to the programming committee. Mapisa-Nqakula told the previous programming committee she’d been advised it should only be a 30-minute meeting and that the Chief Whips Forum should come up with recommendations to the committee. “We will ask who paid for the transport. It is unclear who paid for the venue hire. At the [programming committee] the Deputy Speaker referred this to you for your decision. But it’s the fraught interchanges on the motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa that showcased fractured parliamentary politics. Parliament’s double-header of no-confidence motions turned into a mishmash of rules and procedure squabbling that led to the first fixture being adjourned when the proposer refused to play ball. We are not withdrawing, up until this matter is finalised in the courts.”

On Thursday, speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula ruled that the ATM motion be removed from the parliamentary programme.

After a meeting of the committee on Thursday morning, Mapisa-Nqakula ruled that the ATM motion be removed from the parliamentary programme. The ruling on that occasion was, which I believe should be consistently applied, that a motion falls away. “That the judge deemed it not to be urgent, that does not mean there is no existing case or there is no existing court process.

It was meant to be debated and voted on Wednesday but it's now lapsed and is no longer on the parliamentary programme. President Cyril Ramaphosa responding ...

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that members could always resubmit the motion: “It doesn’t matter if the party tells us tomorrow that they are ready now because issues have been dealt with by the court. “It is not a matter that I declined just because I just wanted to decline. It was meant to be debated and voted on Wednesday but it's now lapsed and is no longer on the parliamentary programme.

Mapisa-Nqakula told the programming committee she would not postpone the motion as suggested by the ATM, but the motion was being taken off the agenda of ...

“As far as our own processes determine here, because you have chosen not to move your motion, therefore, the motion has lapsed until you re-submit it. The motion is not on the agenda, the motion is not postponed, the motion has lapsed on the grounds that the mover of the motion did not move it, did not formally submit the motion in the assembly yesterday,” said Mapisa-Nqakula. Mapisa-Nqakula told the programming committee she would not postpone the motion as suggested by the ATM, but the motion was being taken off the agenda of Parliament.

DA's Natasha Mazzone during the motions of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet at parliament, Cape Town. Image: Esa Alexander.

“When a matter is before a court it becomes sub judice and we have to discuss it here. “Legitimately, the ATM is saying we can’t proceed fairly with a motion of confidence if we are not going to be granted an opportunity to use a secret ballot. We know that once a secret ballot comes, we are going to split the ANC vote into half and vote out your incumbent president. We know that once a secret ballot comes, we are going to split the ANC vote into half and vote out your incumbent president. In light of this, the party refused to have the motion debated. It is not going to help us to be combative when we deal with this matter.

National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula ruled on Wednesday the motion against president Cyril Ramaphosa would not be heard.

If it remains, it denies any other party an opportunity to bring back such a motion," Singh said. "This is being challenged because you refused the secret ballot. We’ve got the experience in this. "We’ve got the capacity, we did it before. "We can’t proceed with this matter whereas manner of voting is for judicial review. In the programming committee, we were told the decision rests with you.