OPPOSITION parties ATM and UDM have asked Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to review her decision to deny MPs an opportunity to vote via secret ballot.
The latest twist, say the ATM comes after ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe warned ANC MPs about the consequences of defying an ANC instruction.
Last week the NEC said that the ANC will vote against the adoption of the Section 89 independent panel report as it is being taken on review.
Parliament will sit on Tuesday and debate the matter after the panel report found that there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa had violated the Constitution.
ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said that Mantashe issued “an unlawful and spine-chilling threat to members of the ANC whose conscience vote may differ with that of the party line, that they will face expulsion” from the party.
A quotation attributed to Mr Mantashe says “Ask Makhosi Khoza what happens when you defy the ANC. She had to leave. If you defy the ANC you will have to leave because it means you don’t have respect for the organisation, you are an individual. Conscience is ok, but we have a political system”.
Zungula, in a letter to Mapisa-Nqakula said it was clear that the secret ballot was the only option otherwise ANC MPs who voted with their conscience would be exposed to the wrath of the ANC.
Last week, Ramaphosa filed papers at the Constitutional Court for a review application of the panel report, saying that he wanted direct access to the highest court in the land because of the serious nature of the recommendations contained in the report.
In court papers, Ramaphosa said he was requesting direct access to the apex court as “this is an application for a decision of the kind contemplated by section 167 (4) (e) of the Constitution in that the court is asked to decide that the Panel, an organ of the National Assembly, failed to fulfil its obligations in terms of section 89 of the Constitution read with the rules of the National Assembly”.
