Speaker Nosiviwe 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.
CAPE TOWN – The motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa is off the agenda after Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula ruled on Thursday that the ATM would have to re-submit it.
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.
The programming committee convened on Thursday after the National Assembly on Wednesday could not reach an agreement on how to proceed with it after ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said it should be postponed because the matter was pending in court.
Mapisa-Nqakula had then referred it to the programming committee.
However, political parties continued to take different positions on the motion.
House chairperson Cedrick Frolick said the motion has to fall away because it was not discussed in Parliament on Wednesday.
He also said it was not sub judice as suggested by the ATM.
But Zungula insisted the matter was pending in court and the Speaker would have to postpone the motion.
IFP chief whip Narend Singh said they couldn’t have this never-ending saga on the motion as it affected the rules of Parliament.
But Mapisa-Nqakula said because Zungula had in the National Assembly sitting on Wednesday chosen not to move the motion, it fell away.
This was not a postponement of the motion, but it has fallen off the agenda of Parliament, she said.
She added that if the ATM wanted it back on the agenda, it would have to re-submit it.
“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.
– POLITICAL BUREAU
