African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu on Wednesday slated the Democratic Alliance (DA) for its intended motion calling for Parliament to be dissolved.
In a statement, the Chief Whip also acknowledged that the motion of no confidence vote showed that more than 25 ANC members of parliament voted with the opposition, adding that he was deeply disappointed and condemned the MPs actions.
“We are deeply disappointed that some of our ANC members allowed themselves to be used by the opposition to fracture and weaken the ANC and destabilise our country.
“Our political nemesis and adversaries have shown that they will use any means to achieve their narrow political ends and the fact that some of our comrades collaborated with them and defied their party mandate is saddening. We therefore condemn their actions.We will give ourselves time to make a proper analysis of what needs to be done in this regard,” said Mthembu.
At a press conference earlier on Wednesday the DA said it would apply more pressure on the ANC by tabling a motion calling for Parliament to be dissolved and early elections to be held.
The motion is expected to be tabled on Thursday, two days after the opposition won significant support from ANC MPs for a motion of no confidence in embattled President Jacob Zuma, but not enough for it to be passed by the National Assembly.
Mthembu said the DA’s new move exposed that the motion of no confidence in President Zuma was not about him as the head of state, but rather an attempt at regime change.
“This planned motion by the DA shows that the DA does not respect our democracy and the electorate of South Africa. They have no regard for the will of the people as expressed through the outcomes of the 2014 general elections.”
“We will defeat this planned motion as we have defeated all other attempts by the opposition to overthrow our popularly elected government.” said Mthembu.
-African News Agency (ANA)
