Cape Town - The Section 89 panel report is not up for consideration in Tuesday's session of the National Assembly, but it has been moved to a physical sitting to be held next week Tuesday.
The report will be voted on via roll call, whereby a name will be called and the person will be asked to openly vote in favour or against it.
This was the decision taken by the special meeting of the National Assembly on Tuesday, after Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had earlier rejected requests made by the DA and ATM on a voting method.
“I was disinclined to grant the two requests but I was briefed about further motivation which I am considering,” Mapisa-Nqakula said at the start of the meeting.
The meeting was convened at the request of the Chief Whips Forum of political parties represented in Parliament, to discuss the processing of the Section 89 report that made damning findings against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After a few hours, the ANC national executive committee agreed that Parliament deliberate on the report and put it to a vote, but said its MPs would vote against it.
EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu said the EFF had known before the panel concluded its report that they should discuss the nature and character of the December 6 meeting.
Shivambu said the EFF had written a letter asking for the meeting to be convened so that all MPs were under the protection of Parliament.
He said they did not want a repeat of what had happened during a motion of no confidence when the ANC had assembled its MPs in a hotel and “frog marched” them to vote in a particular direction.
“We have to create a safe space for the democratically elected to decide what should happen,” Shivambu said.
He said it was not safe to convene the sitting on Tuesday via a virtual platform.
“We need to constitute a physical sitting where we are safe… to vote on the impeachment process.”
Shivambu said block voting during a virtual session, whereby chief whips would just count the number of MPs present and those wishing to vote otherwise, was problematic.
“We can open to a vote one by one, according to conscience,” he said before asking that Tuesday's meeting be shifted to Thursday or next Tuesday, so that logistical issues could be dealt with.
DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said the National Assembly, under the hybrid setting, accepted that the manual voting procedure could be done.
“The argument that it takes long is neither here nor there. Let’s not deter Parliament from doing what is right,” Gwarube said.
She said the reason MPs voted in public was for the purpose of record.
“It is important for record purposes how people voted… I implore to reconsider a decision to have a manual vote for this,” Gwarbe said.
ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude said it was known that load shedding affected everyone in the county and that most MPs were from the rural areas.
Dlakude said that in the March motion of no confidence, her party had voted for its MPs to be in Parliament but its offices were damaged by the fire in January.
“Our members do not have an office, unlike the members of the opposition. They have offices in the Marks building. Ours are in the National Assembly and some in the Old Assembly.
“We had to find a venue so that members could be in that venue to vote,” she said.
Dlakude proposed that the Section 89 report be dealt with using manual voting on December 13.
“This will allow MPs to make travel arrangements on time. We have a shortage of flights,” she said.
ACDP chief whip Steve Swart said the ACDP supported the ANC proposal due to the logistical reasons and UDM Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said voting should be by roll call as suggested by the DA.
ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said he agreed that the special session be moved to next Tuesday and that it be a physical session.
Zungula noted that Mapisa-Nqakula rejected the call for a secret ballot, but said the “method of voting must be a roll call as proposed by the DA”.
Mapisa-Nqakula said there should be adequate time to prepare for the physical sitting next week.
“Members should take it upon themselves to book as early as possible,” she said.
National Assembly Secretary Masibulele Xaso said they would start securing a venue immediately after the programme committee meeting.
"We will do everything possible to find a venue that can be declared a precinct of Parliament," Xaso said.
However, the scheduled session on December 6 will continue. It will consider granting permission to approach the Constitutional Court for an extension to finalise the Electoral Amendment Bill that will provide for independent candidates to contest for seats in Parliament and provincial legislatures.
Cape Times