ANC MPs, who form part of the 400 parliamentarians who will today decide whether impeachment proceedings should be instituted against President Cyril Ramaphosa, were by Sunday night still waiting for the party to advise them on how to vote.

Today’s special sitting, which will see opposition parties pushing for Ramaphosa to be impeached, follows a Section 89 Independent Panel investigation which found that the president has an impeachment case to answer to, in relation to his conduct surrounding the Phala Phala farm robbery scandal.

While the ANC national executive committee (NEC) has already directed the party’s 230 MPs to vote against the panel’s report, the leadership of the ANC parliamentary caucus was, by Sunday night, yet to officially pass the NEC’s message to the organisation’s MPs.

Luthando Nogcinisa, advisor to ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, told The Witness there could be a caucus meeting before the special sitting in Parliament.

We will give the chief whip space to make that call. As things stand, I don’t have any details around the plans to call a caucus meeting. It’s quite possible that the meeting will take place tomorrow [Tuesday].

For the impeachment process to be taken to the next level, 50%+1 of Parliament’s 400 MPs should vote in favour of the panel’s report.

Opposition parties expected to vote in favour of panel’s report

Most of the opposition parties’ MPs — including those from the DA, EFF, IFP and UDM — are expected to vote in favour of the panel’s report.

The ATM, the political party which requested Parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula establish the independent panel to probe the allegations against Ramaphosa, was on Monday still pushing for her to allow Tuesday’s voting to be done through a secret ballot.

ATM MP, Vuyo Zungula, said the secret ballot would protect ANC MPs intending to vote in favour of the panel report.

“They know that they will be victimised by the ANC leadership should they openly vote against the report,” ATM MP, Vuyo Zungula, said.

“Even though the ANC NEC has instructed ANC MPs to vote against the report, some of these MPs want to put the interests of the country first instead of those of a political party. Given the threats faced by MPs who want to vote in favour of the report, it is irrational for the speaker to insist that it should be an open ballot.”

Parliament would establish an impeachment ad hoc committee, should 50%+1 of MPs vote in favour of the panel’s report.

However, should less than 30 ANC MPs join the opposition in voting in favour of the report, the impeachment process against Ramaphosa will not proceed.

While political analysts were of the view that the panel’s report has affected Ramaphosa’s standing within the ANC, they also agreed that he still stood a great chance to be elected for a second term as ANC president at the party’s elective conference due to kick off at Johannesburg’s Nasrec Expo on Friday.

The five-day elective conference, which will be attended by more than 4 000 ANC delegates, will see Ramaphosa slug it out with former health minister, Zweli Mkhize, who will also be contesting for the party’s presidency.

While Ramaphosa received overwhelming support in eight of the party’s nine provinces during the build-up to the elective conference, Mkhize’s supporters believe there is a high likelihood that delegates at the conference will back the former health minister.