Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the court had made it clear that the discretion lay with the Speaker on whether the vote was an open ballot or a secret ballot.
SPEAKER Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has decided on March 30 as the date on which Parliament will debate and vote on the motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa.
She said Parliament would handle the other motion against the Cabinet on the same day.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) and the DA tabled the two motions respectively with the ATM taking Parliament to court over a secret ballot.
However, Mapisa-Nqakula told members of the programming committee on Thursday that this would be an open ballot.
Along with the ATM, the DA, UDM and other opposition parties have objected to the use of an open ballot. But ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said the party supported the use of an open ballot and that this had been done in the past.
Mapisa-Nqakula said the court had made it clear that the discretion lay with the Speaker on whether the vote was an open ballot or a secret ballot.
She said the political environment was not toxic and did not warrant a secret ballot. She had consulted the legal advisers of Parliament and they said there would be no problem in holding an open ballot in the motion of no confidence.
“For now we are proposing the date of March 30 for the debate and voting on the two motions submitted by both the ATM and DA,” said Mapisa-Nqakula.
– POLITICAL BUREAU
