Zuma censure motion rejected

LAST night, the National Assembly rejected a DA motion of censure against President Jacob Zuma by 217 votes to 78, with four abstentions.

It was another long day of filibustering, this time by the ANC, who wanted to delay voting until a time of night when few South Africans would be interested in following it.

In the end, the vote was taken shortly after 10.30pm, after the National Assembly had been sitting since 3pm, with an hour break for supper.

The motion of censure, moved by DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane, was premised on the fact that Zuma had not answered questions in the National Assembly four times this year, as the rules of parliament dictate.

Maimane missed the voting on the measure he proposed, and in the end only the DA, Freedom Front Plus and Agang supported it. The NFP abstained, the EFF did not vote at all and the other opposition parties voted with the ANC.

The ANC and the DA had yesterday resumed hostilities, just a day after striking a deal to work together in seeking political solutions to problems plaguing parliament. Earlier last night, four public order police vans were parked outside the parliamentary precinct.

Maimane claimed that, earlier in the evening, ANC chief whip Stone Sizani had asked that the DA withdraw its motion entirely. "We will not do so," Maimane said. "We will [remain] in parliament all night if needs be."

In another development likely to inflame tensions, DA leader Helen Zille will lead a march to parliament this morning to force Zuma to honour his constitutional obligations and answer parliamentary questions.

The president has avoided parliament since the EFF disrupted a question and answer session on August 21, demanding he pay back the money spent on his private Nkandla residence. – Jan-Jan Joubert. Additional reporting by Thabo Mokone