The ANC Youth League notes the decision of the Speaker of Parliament regarding the method by which the No Confidence Vote will be conducted. The decision to conduct the vote by secret ballot is consistent with the rules and procedures of parliament and the discretion of the Speaker to determine which method to employ for any given matter before the house.
We remain firm in our belief that that whether by secret ballot or open voting; the political outcomes of the vote must and will be the same. It is only the delusional wishes of the opposition, aided by sensationalist media opinion, that creates a fictitious possibility of a Secret Ballot tilting the political outcomes.
The decision for a Secret Ballot presents an opportunity for ANC Members of Parliament to demonstrate to the opposition and other forces hoping for regime change through a palace coup that our movement will defend its democratic mandate. The outcomes of the secret ballot will reaffirm our confidence on the capacity of members of the movement in different spaces to assert the ANC as the political center.
Ideally, we would have preferred that this be done in full view of the public in order to communicate the important message that our defense of the ANC is not a matter of secret. We would have preferred the open vote because we believe that the commitment to the ANC as the political center is a matter of conscience that we carry openly for everyone to see.
As we have said before, all members of the ANC and democratic forces of South Africa have a revolutionary duty to rise up against these attempts at staging a palace coup. At the forefront of this political programme to defend the democratic majority will be the Members of Parliament deployed by the ANC. They have a duty to assert the right of the popular masses to determine their own fate and leadership against an elite attempt to shortchange democracy.
We are convinced that by the end of the parliamentary session tomorrow, the ANC Members of Parliament would have delivered a clear message to the opposition that they cannot and should not donate their opposition politics to our movement. When Comrade Jacob Zuma is reaffirmed as President of the Republic, the opposition will have to go bury their bruised egos in sand after they are defeated.
Issued by
ANC Youth League
Secretary General
For more information contact
Njabulo Nzuza Mlondi Mkhize
0783476022 0730114676
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