The outcome of a parliamentary vote on the impeachment inquiry against the president crushed the idea of ANC renewal, according to DA leader John Steenhuisen.
After the Section 89 Independent Panel found that President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer to for his Phala Phala farm scandal, MPs tendered their votes on whether he should face an impeachment inquiry during a physical sitting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Out of 400 MPs, 214 voted against the report and 148 said the report must be adopted.
According to Steenhuisen, who also voted for the adoption of the report, the ANC has not changed even after a report by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo into state capture.
“Today’s vote in the National Assembly, in which the ANC used its parliamentary majority to block the Section 89 Independent Panel report into the Phala Phala allegations, confirms, once and for all, that the ANC has not changed its undemocratic behaviour in the wake of state capture and the Zondo report,” Steenhuisen said.
“The ANC we saw in the House today is the same ANC that leapt to the defense of the corrupt former President Jacob Zuma in half a dozen Motions of No Confidence as well as an Impeachment vote.”
“Despite all the solemn pledges to do better and to honour their oath of office following the scathing rebuke delivered by Justice Raymond Zondo in his final report into State Capture, the ANC fell at the very first hurdle. Perhaps even more disappointing is that this behaviour was happily welcomed by President Ramaphosa himself, who has done everything in his power to avoid answering questions truthfully about the money he hid in his farmhouse.”
The fight against the ANC’s corruption is not yet over, according to Steenhuisen who said the DA will utilize all resources at their disposal to make sure they bring the president down.
“If the ANC and the president think they’ve succeeded in drawing a line under the Phala Phala scandal, they are very much mistaken. As we did throughout the Zuma years, the DA will use every resource and every avenue at our disposal to hold the president to account, and to ensure that our Parliament remains functional and intact. This fight has only just begun.
“What the ANC has perhaps not yet realised is that the blocking of the report in Parliament today was a pyrrhic victory for them, in that it shattered the myth around the party’s so-called renewal.”
According to the DA leader, Ramaphosa is the same as former President Jacob Zuma. He said the two do not hesitate to “damage and weaken Parliament in order to evade scrutiny and the law”.
“If the ANC believes it can act in this way without electoral consequences, 2024 is going to teach them some tough lessons indeed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EFF also confirmed that they would be taking the outcomes of the sitting on judicial review.
“In light of the various breaches of the Constitution and undermining of the integrity of the process of voting on whether to adopt the report, the EFF intends to take the decision to reject the report in Parliament on judicial review on an urgent basis.
“We cannot sit by while a partisan Speaker of the National Assembly is complicit in the intimidation of Members of Parliament and undermines the ability of Members to vote in accordance with the oath of office they have taken. The process was flawed and characterised by fear and imposition of what direction Members of Parliament must vote in,” said EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo.
According to Thambo the outcome of the sitting is signals the beginning of a constitutional war.
“The proceedings of today in Parliament were the beginning of a war in defence of constitutionalism and the rule of law. Ramaphosa will not survive Phala Phala Farm, and his legacy will be that he undermine the rule of law in South Africa.
“He will never know peace and his best course of action remains immediate resignation, because the EFF will ensure he leaves the office of the President of South Africa disgraced, exposed and without a cent,” he said.
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