No secret ballot on Phala Phala: Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula

National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has declined requests to reconsider her decision to not allow a secret ballot to be used as a voting procedure on the section 89 independent panel’s report on Phala Phala.

MPs on Tuesday afternoon will vote on whether to adopt the section 89 Phala Phala report in parliament — a process that will decide whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will face impeachment proceedings.

A majority of 201 votes is needed to pass the adoption of the report — if all 400 MPs are present. The ANC has 230 MPs while all other opposition parties have a combined 170.

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An open ballot might mean dissenting voices within the ANC are unable to vote for the adoption of the report after a party decision barring its MPs from voting in favour of the report.

Leaders of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), the African Independent Congress (AIC) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula asking her to reconsider her decision to decline allowing a secret ballot.

The ANC also wrote to the speaker requesting that she affirm her earlier decision of an open ballot.

Mapisa-Nqakula, using her powers as the speaker, has a right to exercise her discretion in determining the voting method to be employed when deciding on questions before the house — where no voting method is prescribed in the rules of the National Assembly.

In her reply, Mapisa-Nqakula said she had a constitutional responsibility to consider all prevailing factors in exercising her discretion to determine the appropriate voting mechanism. She stressed the importance of ensuring due regard to an environment of accountability and at the same time maintaining transparency and openness.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo explained: “The parliamentary environment is always a highly politicised space and can never be entirely free of political tensions, either between or even within parties and Mapisa-Nqakula does not believe that the atmosphere is so generally toxified or so highly charged that MPs would be prevented from exercising their vote on this question in accordance with their conscience using an open voting procedure.”

“The speaker has also noted concerns about potential 'vote buying', and it was her view that this could be facilitated by a cloud of secrecy. She told the party leaders that her position stands and accordingly, she would not accede to their request for the use of a secret ballot voting procedure when the assembly considers the section 89 independent panel report.”

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