The UDM is disappointed but not surprised by the open Stalingrad tactics adopted by the President in his Constitutional Court review application regarding the Phala Phala scandal.
It is clear that the application is only a tactic by the President to delay his inevitable impeachment and removal from office due to multiple breaches of the Constitution and allegedly criminal conduct until the ANC conference next week.
The UDM is particularly concerned about the deliberate failure by the President to cite the political parties represented in Parliament as is the usual practice. In this particular case the President himself states at paragraph 17 of his affidavit that “The panel received submissions from the ATM, the EFF and the UDM on 27 October 2022”
The President indeed responded to those submissions on 28 October 2022.Yet he has failed to join the interested parties. This is part of the deliberate delaying tactics and abuse of the court process by the President.
The UDM will instruct its lawyers to demand that the President corrects this situation, failing which it will bring an application to intervene and require the President to pay punitive costs in respect thereof.
The UDM is of the firm view that unless the President approaches the court for an interdict there is no legal impediment to Parliament proceeding with its work of holding the President accountable.
We also call on the Speaker to reconsider her decision to disallow a secret ballot in line with what the Constitutional Court said in the case of UDM v The Speaker that members of Parliament must be guided by their conscience and may sometimes have to be protected from retaliation by party bosses. Given the unlawful retaliation by President Ramaphosa when he suspended the Public Protector the day after she served him with 31 questions regarding Phala Phala the Speaker should have ordered a secret ballot.
Statement by:
Mr Bantu Holomisa
UDM President
