ATM: Without a secret ballot ‘democracy wouldn’t prevail’
The motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa that was scheduled to be debated in the National Assembly on Thursday will not go ahead.
This comes after the African Transformation Movement (ATM) approached the Western Cape High Court on an urgent basis in a bid to get the court to force Speaker Thandi Modise to allow for a secret ballot.
The court has postponed the hearing of ATM's application to February 2021.
"Now that we have entered a court process, we cannot now continue with the motion of no confidence in the afternoon. So, the motion is postponed pending the outcome of the court process," says ATM spokesperson Zama Tshona.
"The only option we had having exhausted all internal avenues within Parliament. We wrote several times to try and plead with the speaker for her see the toxicity of the environment and how without a secret ballot democracy wouldn't prevail. The court has not just given us its audience but also two days.”