The ANC in the Eastern Cape on Saturday nominated President Jacob Zuma to lead the party for a second term with businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as his deputy. File photo: Jeffrey Abrahams The ANC in the Eastern Cape on Saturday nominated President Jacob Zuma to lead the party for a second term with businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as his deputy. File photo: Jeffrey Abrahams
Johannesburg -
Parliament and the ANC have opposed an urgent Constitutional Court application by opposition parties to appeal the Western Cape High Court’s dismissal of their application to force a debate on a vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
In an answering affidavit filed with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Wednesday, National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu contested the urgency claimed by the opposition parties, while ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga contended that Western Cape High Court Judge Dennis Davis was correct in saying the court could not interfere in the business of Parliament.
Justice Mogoeng had requested an answer from Sisulu and Motshekga by Wednesday at the latest after DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko submitted an urgent appeal request to him on the no-confidence debate.
Mazibuko, on behalf of the DA and seven other opposition parties, asked the Constitutional Court to order Sisulu to schedule the debate to be heard no later than December 7, saying the matter was urgent because eight opposition parties representing about 33 percent of South Africa’s voters supported the vote of no confidence.
In her founding affidavit, Mazibuko asked the Constitutional Court to declare that the rules of the National Assembly were inconsistent with the constitution and invalid to the extent they did not vindicate the rights of all parties to have a motion of no confidence given priority over other parliamentary business.
Accordingly, Mazibuko said, the debate and vote must be scheduled as a matter of urgency.
She also wants the court to declare that the motion of no confidence did not lapse on November 22, the last sitting of the 2012 National Assembly year, as the rules of the legislature dictate.
In his ruling last Thursday, Judge Davis said it was any MP’s right to request a no-confidence debate, but rejected the opposition’s attempt to force a parliamentary debate on the motion, saying it was not for the court to dictate to Parliament.
Political Bureau