Home South African ATM motion of no confidence application thrown out by high court

ATM motion of no confidence application thrown out by high court

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This came ahead of the debate and vote on the motion in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)

THE URGENT application by the ATM on the motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa was thrown out by the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

This came ahead of the debate and vote on the motion in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The court ruled that the application was not urgent.

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had said the motion would proceed on Wednesday as planned.

The application was brought by the ATM after Mapisa-Nqakula refused its request for a secret ballot on the motion of no confidence.

The matter has been dragging on for the last two years and when Covid-19 broke out in March 2020, it got delayed.

But it was taken to court by the ATM later that year to challenge former Speaker Thandi Modise’s decision to refuse a secret ballot.

Current speaker Mapisa-Nqakula has also refused the request saying there was no basis for it.

In the past the speaker had said the conditions in the country were not toxic to justify a secret ballot.

In the court papers, Mapisa-Nqakula had insisted that there was no basis for the call for a secret ballot by the ATM.

The court had previously ruled that it was the speaker’s discretion to decide whether a vote would be an open ballot or secret ballot.

Last month Mapisa-Nqakula took a decision that the vote will be via open ballot when the motion is debated and voted on, on Wednesday.

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