By Nhlamulo Ndhlela
MKP National Spokesperson
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (“MK Party”) places on record its outright rejection of both the process and the purported outcome of the sitting convened to deliberate on the Motion of No Confidence against the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
What unfolded in the Legislature was not democracy.
It was a coordinated assault on constitutional governance, legislative integrity and the political will of the
people of this province.
At the center of this collapse stands the conduct of the Speaker, Hon. Nontembeko Boyce, whose actions were marked by arrogance, bias and reckless disregard for her constitutional obligations.
Despite credible, texted death threats directed at Members of the Legislature, and despite the obvious climate of intimidation and political tension, the Speaker refused a lawful and reasonable request for a secret ballot.
This refusal is indefensible.
National elections in South Africa are conducted by secret ballot.
The election of the Speaker herself is conducted by secret ballot.
Yet, in a moment where Members’ lives
were potentially at risk, the very safeguard that underpins our democratic system was nefariously and deliberately refused.
What is ironic to us is that during the 2024 elections, our votes were counted in secret.
Yet now, when we lawfully request the use of a secret ballot for this Vote of No Confidence, consistent with a legitimate and established voting process, the same respect for the will of the people was denied.
The Constitution does not require elected representatives to risk their lives to satisfy procedural obstinacy or partisan interests.
The commotion that followed was not gratuitous disorder.
It was the direct and legitimate consequence of a refusal to protect Members and to uphold constitutional safeguards recognised in constitutional
jurisprudence.
A Speaker who refuses to shield Members from coercion, intimidation and potential harm ceases to be an impartial presiding officer and becomes an active political participant.
The instability in the House was not accidental; it was engineered.
Any claim that the MK Party “lost” a vote is false, desperate and without factual foundation.
First, the Legislature was not properly constituted.
The mace was not in place, and without the mace, the House is not lawfully in session.
Where the authority of the House itself is compromised, any purported resolutions are procedurally and constitutionally invalid.
Second, MK Party Members were not seated and did not vote. The same applies to the EFF.
To announce a voting outcome of “39 – 40” under these circumstances is nothing more than a fabrication designed to salvage political embarrassment.
There was no valid vote.
There was no defeat.
There was only an attempt to force through a dangerous, irregular and unlawful process while ignoring explicit
threats to Members’ safety.
Legitimacy in a constitutional democracy does not flow from numbers forced through chaos.
It flows from a lawful, orderly and constitutionally compliant process.
Where the process is tainted by the
refusal of a secret ballot, disregard for Members’ safety, disorderly proceedings and doubts about the
lawful constitution of the House, legitimacy collapses.
Mr. Ntuli therefore does not enjoy legitimate authority as Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
He governs not by the will of the people, but under the protection of an unstable and compromised coalition.
The so-called Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) is not a unifying project. It is a fraudulent political cartel, led by the Democratic Alliance, whose record is defined by hostility to transformation, African self determination and people-centered governance.
This is the same DA whose conduct during
elections has been widely questioned and which now seeks to sanitise minority rule through procedural manipulation and institutional control.
What transpired in the Legislature was not governance; it was
the consolidation of power through coercion and the bending of democratic rules.
The MK Party refuses to normalise authoritarian conduct by a Speaker, procedural violence against elected representatives and illegitimate claims of authority by a panicking coalition.
We will pursue all political, parliamentary and legal avenues to challenge the Speaker’s conduct, the legitimacy of the sitting, the credibility of the purported vote and the false authority claimed by Mr. Ntuli and the GPU.
KwaZulu-Natal belongs to its people, not to political cartels hiding behind chaos.
History will record that when democracy was assaulted in that House, the MK Party stood firm, spoke truth and refused to bow.
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