The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has declared it will not support a motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa, arguing instead that the impeachment process must run its course to a logical conclusion.
Speaking in his capacity as IFP National Spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the president is “exercising a right legally” by subjecting himself to legal processes, calling it “strength and testament to our democratic dispensation and the constitution thereof.”
Hlengwa emphasized that the means used to respond to such issues must be constitutional, adding that this approach is “important for the stability of the country.”
The spokesperson outlined several key responsibilities: Parliament still has a duty to effect the Constitutional Court judgment in certain material respects, including the “regularization of the rules” to prepare for any impeachment process. He noted that the judgment, while about President Ramaphosa, is also “for posterity in terms of how we deal with an impeachment process.”
Hlengwa also said parties in Parliament will need to decide whether to follow an impeachment process or a motion of no confidence. “We believe that the impeachment process must run its course to a logical conclusion,” he stated, warning that punctuating it with other matters risks “confusing the parliamentary process.”
Responding to a question about a motion of no confidence already submitted by the ATM to the Speaker of Parliament, Hlengwa criticized what he called an “opportunistic” attempt to confuse the process. He said the IFP would not support a no-confidence motion, describing it as “a miscalculated outlook which seeks to circumvent a due process which is already underway.”
“We remain committed to the review process of the rules and to the establishment of the impeachment committee,” Hlengwa said, adding that should the report come back against the president, “the president must subject himself to the impeachment process.”
He concluded that government at this point “is performing its duties to the best of its ability in the service of the people.”