ANC "laughs" off motion of no confidence in president Jacob Zuma

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The ANC has laughed off a motion of no confidence against president Jacob Zuma tabled in parliament on Thursday by eight opposition parties.

The said under his watch the "justice system has been politicised and weakened, corruption has spiralled out of control, unemployment is on the rise, the economy is weakening and quality education has been violated."

But, in a hard-hitting response the Office of the ANC Chief Whip described the motion as "frivolous and narrow publicity-seeking gimmicks masquerading as motions in the National Assembly by some opposition parties."

The ANC said "the so-called “motion of no confidence” in President Jacob Zuma is a desperate, if not silly, publicity stunt by a group of attention-seeking opposition leaders. Such a stunt would be laughable or dismissed with silent contempt if it did not make a mockery of this august Parliament. It is unacceptable that this institution’s time should be wasted on such mischievous antics of opposition leaders who clearly do not take this institution seriously."

The Chief Whip of the ANC tabled a counter-motion "proposing that Parliament reaffirm its full confidence in the able leadership of President Jacob Zuma."

"The motion by a group of opposition parties is not based on any fact or evidence, and therefore amounts to nothing but character assassination," said Mathole Motshekga.

"In our view, it is a waste of parliament’s time, playful, silly publicity stunt and therefore belongs to the rubbish bin."