DA 'lost the motion but won the argument': John Steenhuisen

DA leader John Steenhuisen believes while his party lost the vote on the motion of no confidence in the cabinet, it won the argument. 

Steenhuisen was “addressing the nation” on Friday, two days are his party lost the historic vote.

He tabled a motion of no confidence in the entire cabinet during the state of the nation address debate in February. 

Despite a public campaign asking South Africans to sign a petition to support the motion and pickets outside parliament on Wednesday, the motion did not succeed. The DA managed to get 131 votes vs 231 votes against.

“While this motion did not pass, it did succeed in publicly separating those elected public servants who serve their country from those who serve only their party. 

“That doesn’t only include ANC MPs. The other benefit is that you get to see all the little proxy parties of the ANC stripped bare and exposed,” said Steenhuisen.

He was referring to parties like GOOD, the IFP, NFP and Al Jama-ah, who all voted with the ANC against the motion.

“These are the things all South Africans need to know: who is fighting in their corner, and who is shielding the corrupt and the inept?

“We may have lost this vote, but we certainly won the argument,” said Steenhuisen. 

The motion of no confidence in the cabinet, which excluded Ramaphosa, was the first of its kind in democratic SA.

Steenhuisen said they brought the motion because every member of the ANC cabinet was directly responsible for the dismal state of the economy and the failure to provide services, safety and dignity to the country's citizens.

“Their incompetence, indifference and corruption has brought suffering to millions of South Africans who cannot find work and who live an incredibly hard life of poverty and despair. 

“Yet not one of these ministers is ever held accountable by the president who appointed them. Our MPs swore an oath to serve the people and it is our duty as official opposition to hold government to account,” said Steenhuisen. 

He said his party owed it to all South Africans, and not just those who voted for the DA, to do everything it can to hold government to account. “This means using every mechanism available to us — in parliament, in provincial legislatures, in municipal councils, in court and through the media. That’s our job.

“Our motion on Wednesday did not pass. It was ultimately defeated by 231 votes to 131 votes, with one abstention. This is mainly due to the majority the ANC still has, for now, in the National Assembly.”

He said the ANC consistently used its majority to shield its members, ministers and presidents from accountability.

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