ATM loses court bid for secret ballot in Ramaphosa no-confidence vote

This comes after the Western Cape High Court struck from the roll an urgent application by the African Transformation Movement (ATM), seeking to ensure that Wednesday's motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa is conducted through a secret ballot.

The ruling follows ATM’s request for a closed vote, a request which Mapisa-Nqakula had previously declined.

The party wanted to obtain an interdict against the decision but the court found that ATM created the urgency itself.

Judge Rosheni Allie said ATM could have approached the court sooner.

“During today’s court proceedings, the Speaker argued that the ATM was aware of her decision not to accede to its request to hold the vote in the motion of no confidence in the President utilising secret ballot since 16 February 2022,” said Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

“She contended that the ATM had sufficient time to approach the courts from when that decision was communicated to it. Instead, it elected to ask the speaker to review her own decision and only approached the court more than three weeks after the decision was communicated to it.

“The speaker also disagreed with the ATM’s contention that her refusal to ‘review’ her decision amounts to a fresh decision entitled to be reviewed by the court as it affects the earlier decision of 16 February 2022,” says Mothapo.

The motion is set to be tabled on Wednesday and will be followed by a motion of no confidence, tabled by the DA, in Ramaphosa’s entire Cabinet.

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