A court calendar full of political conundrums

Politically, last year wrapped with President Cyril Ramaphosa surviving to fight another term as ANC leader but in terms of litigation, loose ends remain regarding the report that recommended he face an impeachment inquiry, and brought him to the brink of resigning in December.

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has asked the Western Cape high court to set aside the National Assembly vote in which the report was rejected by 214 votes to 148, and to order a rerun, this time by secret ballot.

In an application filed four days before Christmas, the party argued that speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula failed to apply the correct legal test when she considered and denied an opposition request for a closed ballot. 

She erred, it said, by insisting that as a rule voting is an open process and whoever wants it otherwise bears an onus to show compelling reasons for secrecy.

“In rejecting the ATM’s request for a closed ballot, and prescribing an open ballot procedure, the speaker required that there be ‘exceptional circumstances’ for her to deviate ‘from the principle of openness’,” ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said in his founding affidavit.

“The speaker is wrong because the principle of openness is not the default position, and therefore cannot be ‘deviated from’.”