Paul Mashatile: We will support all budgets in Parliament, and defeat DA's motion against Ramaphosa

Deputy President Paul Mashatile on Tuesday vowed that any motion of no-confidence brought against President Cyril Ramaphosa will be defeated in the National Assembly.

Mashatile spoke to journalists in the Free State province, where he was joined by Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae in leading the Clean Cities and Towns integrated service delivery programme in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality near Welkom.

“We will be ready to defeat it,” said Mashatile.

IOL reported earlier that the Democratic Alliance (DA), a key coalition partner in the South African government, filed criminal charges against the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane.

The DA accuses Nkabane of lying to Parliament about the appointment of ANC-linked individuals to Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) boards.

On Tuesday morning, DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille and DA MP Karabo Khakhau, who serves on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, laid the charges at the Cape Town Central police station.

Khakhau said the charges relate to Nkabane's alleged deliberate misrepresentation of the appointment process for SETA board members, during which she claimed an “independent” evaluation panel was responsible for the selections.

The DA insists it will not support the budget of the Department of Higher Education and Training while it is under the leadership of Nkabane. The blue party said it will vote against the budgets of departments headed by “corrupt ANC ministers”.

Reacting to the DA’s assertions, Mashatile said his party, the ANC would vote to pass all budgets in Parliament.

“The GNU (Government of National Unity) is going to continue. We are going to vote for all budgets. If the DA does not vote for any budget, it is their problem. The budget is not an instrument of a minister. A budget is for the nation. Even if there is a minister of the DA, that is not their budget. That budget is to help the people, so we, as the ANC, will vote for all budgets. 

“We want this country to work, we want things to proceed. We will vote for all budgets because our people want us to fix the roads, they want water, they want electricity, they want us to grow the economy, employ people and that is what the budget is all about. So, we are proceeding,” Mashatile charged.

The DA has been calling on Ramaphosa to act swiftly and remove Nkabane from office, warning that continued inaction would implicate him in enabling corruption.

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