Speaker agrees to postpone MONC

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has this evening received a letter from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, acceding to our requests to postpone the Motion of No Confidence, which was scheduled to take place on 18 April 2017.

As the DA, we welcome the postponement, as the outcome of the Constitutional Court submission, where the matter of a secret ballot for a motion of no confidence will be tested, will have a material impact on the outcome of the vote.

The Speaker has stated that “the motion of no confidence is postponed pending consideration of the matter by the Programme Committee after the constituency period.”

The DA believes that it would have been remarkably disrespectful for the National Assembly to proceed with the debate and vote while the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the Republic, was deliberating on a matter directly linked to the motion.

The postponement will give ANC Members of Parliament time to reflect on their commitment to South Africa and the people. For as long as Jacob Zuma remains at the Union Buildings, the people, especially the poor and jobless, will continue suffer.

The postponement will not stop the people of South Africa from continuing to make the call that “Zuma must go and South Africa must come first”.

Regards

John Steenhuisen MP
Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance