Cyril Ramaphosa Responds to Vote of No Confidence, Vouches for His Ministerial Cabinet

Cyril Ramaphosa Responds to Vote of No Confidence, Vouches for His Ministerial Cabinet

  • South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa has hit back at DA leader John Steenhuisen’s criticism of his cabinet
  • The DA leader tabled a no-confidence in the president’s cabinet, saying SA needs a new one during the 2022 SONA
  • In his response, a confident Ramaphosa said he not only believed in his cabinet but so does the rest of Mzansi

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Following harsh criticism of SA’s ministerial cabinet from the opposition party, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa maintains that the country has confidence in it.

This comes after DA leader John Steenhuisen called for a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa’s cabinet, saying SA needs a new cabinet at the State of the Nation (SONA) 2022 debate. He said a “simple majority” was needed to pass the motion in parliament.

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Cyril Ramaphosa, SONA 2022, South Africa
SA President Cyril Ramaphosa said he has confidence in his cabinet and so does the rest of the country. Image: Jaco Marais/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

Responding to the debate on Wednesday, 16 February, Ramaphosa said in his speech:

“I preside over a cabinet of ministers in whom I and the people of SA have the greatest confidence and expectations as president and, much more importantly, in whom the people of our country also have confidence and highest expectations.”

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TimesLive reported that Steenhuisen said if the motion is rejected, it will stand as conclusive evidence that Ramaphosa is a “lonely president”, and nothing more than a “convenient front, lending a sense of legitimacy and decency to a wholly self-serving, useless, corrupt governing party”.

Responding to the debate on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said he had confidence in his cabinet, and so does the rest of the country, as reported in News24.

He said he would not entertain insults from MPs and would rather respond to constructive criticism.

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Ramaphosa also addressed members of parliament who criticised him for his lack of initiative when it came to criminal proceedings against those found to be corrupt.

“MPs should know that the president is not responsible to initiate criminal proceedings against the corrupt. Our work is to capacitate the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] to do its prosecutorial work without fear or favour,” he said in his address.

SA online users responded to the president’s claims on Twitter:

@Nqaba8953 reacted:

“Ithini yona I country?”

@SeshMancity asked:

“Which country is he talking about?”

Ramaphosa responds to SONA 2022 criticism

Meanwhile, Briefly News previously reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa has responded to attacks on his State of the Nation Address (SONA) by fellow politicians at the SONA debate. He said that much of what has been levelled against him is not worth reacting to.

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Ramaphosa, however, recognised those who made essential points during the debate. These include issues of industrialisation and state capture. He also acknowledged a request from EFF leader, Julius Malema, to reform the cannabis industry.

"I refer to the call by honourable Malema on the industraliasation of cannabis in a way that benefits local farmers in places like the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal," the president said.

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Nothando Mthembu avatar

Nothando Mthembu (Senior editor) Nothando Mthembu is a senior multimedia journalist and editor. Nothando has over 5 years of work experience and has served several media houses including Caxton Local Newspapers. She has experience writing on human interest, environment, crime and social issues for community newspapers. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree and an Honours Degree in Media Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, obtained in 2016 and 2017. Nothando has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. Email: nothando.mthembu@briefly.co.za