DA CONSIDERS 'NUCLEAR' OPTION

DEMOCRATIC Alliance Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille says the party has a motion of no confidence against President Cyril Ramaphosa ready, but is cautious about using it, warning it could collapse the government.

“I very much doubt it,” Zille said when asked whether the ANC could survive such a motion if the DA were to proceed.

She was speaking to journalists outside the Cape Town Central police station, where the DA was filing criminal charges against Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane. 

Nkabane is accused of misleading Parliament and abusing her position by allegedly facilitating ANC cadre deployment in the appointment of Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board members.

Zille said: “We certainly have a motion of no confidence against the president up our sleeve, but we always say that our action must be commensurate with the infringement.”

Zille called the motion “the nuclear option”, saying: “We counted heads, and we think that we’re going to have 196 or 197 votes out of 400. That’s a lot of votes.”

She also cast doubt on the ANC’s ability to whip its full caucus into attending the vote, saying: “The ANC has never once yet in the history of our Parliament got all its parliamentarians into the House, even with a three-line whip.”

Her comments come after the DA, the second-largest party in the Government of National Unity (GNU), signaled its intent to consider a motion against Ramaphosa following the dismissal of Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Andrew Whitfield, a senior DA member. Whitfield was fired over an unauthorised international trip.

In response, the DA withdrew from the National Dialogue process, a key inter-party consultation platform, but has not ruled out advancing the no-confidence motion.

Zille said that if the vote were conducted via secret ballot, the outcome could be even more damaging to the ANC, explaining: “If it’s a secret ballot, that motion of no confidence would carry. 

“But that would bring the government down. And then you have to think very carefully. Is the infringement commensurate with the action? Are there other mechanisms?”

Zille emphasised that the DA is not eager to topple the government, adding: “So before we bring the government down, we try every other avenue, because that’s what a responsible partner does…”

Speaking with IOL News, political analyst Sitabonga Ntombela said ANC may send a delegation to engage with the DA in hopes of stopping its planned motion against President Cyril Ramaphosa, warning it could destabilise the Government of National Unity (GNU).

“I think they might resolve to send a task team that will engage the DA not to go ahead with the motion because that will destabilise the GNU,” said Ntombela.

The ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) met on Monday afternoon to discuss the DA’s recent threats, including its withdrawal from the National dialogue, and the controversy surrounding Nkabane and the appointment of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board.