Ramaphosa survives attempt to have no-confidence vote held in secret

President Cyril Ramaphosa has survived an attempt by the ATM party to have a vote of no confidence in him conducted through a secret ballot. 

This comes after parliamentary speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula rejected the ATM's request, saying there was no basis for it, given several prevailing political events around Ramaphosa.

The danger to Ramaphosa of a secret ballot is that ANC MPs aligned to the “RET forces” faction might have used the opportunity to vote against Ramaphosa, something they would not do in an open vote.

With that now out of the way, the motion is likely to be defeated with ease as all ANC MPs are likely to follow the party line, which was the case in the eight attempts to dethrone previous president Jacob Zuma through a vote of no confidence.

This will be Ramaphosa's first experience of an attempt to eject him from office before the end of his five-year term at the Union Buildings.

Mapisa Nqakula's reasons for her decision included:

• The country recently held free and fair local government elections a mere month before the resubmission of the ATM’s request for a vote of no confidence in the president; 
• In the same vein, the president delivered his state of the nation address to the country on February 10 in an atmosphere that allowed all political parties to freely debate matters of national importance over two days. A robust debate does not point to a toxic environment but confirms that members can express themselves without fear or favour;
• The ATM’s request comes when the president has received and immediately shared with the public the first two reports of the state capture commission, allowing for processes to unfold to deal with its findings and recommendations;
• The speaker considered and reflected on the suspension of Mervyn Dirks MP, and came to the conclusion that he will have the full benefit of the law in defending his rights; and
• The other factor is the contestation among candidates leading up to the electoral conference of the ruling party in December.

Mapisa-Nqakula believes that no political environment will be entirely free of political tensions between or within parties.

“This has been the most important consideration. I am aware that political contestation exists within the governing party, of which the president is the national leader,” she said in a statement. “It is not unusual for such tensions to exist in political parties. However, the court has emphasised that whether an open or secret voting mechanism is used remains at the discretion of the speaker.

“It stressed that the circumstances will dictate the decision, which suggests that both mechanisms are permissible,” she added.

“I’m not aware of any threats to the lives or property of any members of the assembly resulting from their exercise of their duties as members of the assembly, to lead me to the conclusion that the circumstances warrant a departure from the constitutional foundation principles of openness and transparency.”

LISTEN | Steenhuisen thinks “president of talk” should fire his cabinet

TimesLIVE