South Africa’s president, Cabinet face no-confidence vote

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet are facing a vote of no confidence Wednesday in the National Assembly over several allegations raised by the opposition.

The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), raised the motion in February this year, saying the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, in power since 1994, has failed to bridge the economic divide in the country since the end of apartheid.

The DA parliamentary chief whip, Natasha Mazzone, said in a statement on Tuesday that “President Ramaphosa’s government had the opportunity to grow the economy by easing the doing of business and fostering local and foreign investment. Instead, they allowed infrastructure to degenerate almost beyond repair, rolling blackouts (power cuts) to become part of daily lives, and poverty to flourish.”

The ANC rejected the claims, saying it is working hard to reverse the legacy of apartheid by introducing policies to favor disadvantaged communities, improve the ease of doing business and offering housing, among other things, but added that these programs will take time to fully reverse apartheid’s brutal legacy.

- Inequality

A recent report by the World Bank found that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, with race playing a key role in a society where 10% of the white population still holds 80.6% of the financial assets 27 years after the end of apartheid.

Experts say Wednesday’s vote of no confidence is a test for the ruling party’s unity and has little prospects of succeeding, but will highlight the government’s failures and hold it to account.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, political analyst Mustafa Mheta said the motion is bound to face defeat if factions within the ANC unite and vote against it.

The ANC has 230 seats in the National Assembly and for a motion of no confidence to succeed, a simple majority in the National Assembly is needed for it to pass.

“More than anything, this motion is certainly a test on ANC unity. I hope they will close ranks and let this one pass and later continue with their fights,’’ Mheta said, referring to factional battles within Africa’s oldest liberation movement.

Mheta said “the opposition is definitely capitalizing on a number of mistakes made by the government, and some of their demands and concerns are indeed genuine. Mr. Ramaphosa responds to things too late.”

He said the government takes long to respond to crime, among other issues, giving as an example the ongoing vigilantism by a group called Operation Dudula, which has been hunting down alleged illegal immigrants in townships and shutting their businesses in what many have viewed as xenophobic operations.

“A good government responds with speed to issues that seek to disturb peace in the nation,” he said.

‘‘President Ramaphosa seems blind or intentionally oblivious to his Cabinet’s callous ineptitude. For years, he promised that his ministers would sign performance agreements. Once they were finally signed, it took 17 months before the ministers finally reviewed them – not the president, as should have been the case. No, the DA had to review the ministers, and they failed dismally – to no one’s surprise,” said Mazzone.

- Motion to hold government to account

Mametlwe Sebei, the president of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), said chances of the motion to succeed are too slim.

“Given the parliamentary majority of the ANC, there is almost no prospect of success of the motion of no confidence on Cyril Ramaphosa as the president,” he said in a phone interview.

Sebei said such a motion could have succeeded during President Jacob Zuma’s reign, when there was a high level of division within the ANC and some ANC lawmakers were considered to be voting with the opposition because Zuma’s government was tainted by so many scandals.

However, several motions of no confidence raised to remove Zuma have still failed because of the ANC’s majority, he said.

Sebei said that such a motion could hardly succeed, as Ramaphosa’s administration has not been tainted but added that irrespective of the outcome, the motion will hold the government accountable for election promises and not allow divisive politics to cloud efforts to strengthen democracy.

Iqbal Jassat, an executive at the Johannesburg-based think tank Media Review Network (MRN), told Anadolu Agency that “the Democratic Alliance is clutching at straws, knowing full well that the ANC majority will not allow it to pass.”

“The DA is diverting attention from allegations that it hasn't moved away from being a ‘white party’ at a time when many senior Black leaders in the party have dumped it. To proceed with the motion is a waste of time and absolutely futile,” he said.