Not even Ramaphosa's vote enough to pass revenue bill

Cape Town - ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu sent out SMSs to the ruling party's MPs, pleading with them to be present in the National Assembly chamber on Wednesday to get a quorum to pass the Division of Revenue Bill.

Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier sent out a statement containing two text messages from Mthembu, in which he urged ANC MPs to "make their way to the chamber" so that voting could take place on Wednesday.

This comes after the reading of the Division of Revenue Bill failed for a second time in as many days, as the ANC couldn't secure the presence of the 201 members it required for a quorum.

For two days in a row, MPs from the DA and the Economic Freedom Fighters frustrated the voting process by leaving the chamber shortly before voting ensued.

On both occasions the ANC could only secure 192 and 193 "yes" votes, while five MPs voted against the bill.

Maynier said in his statement that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa "suffered a humiliating defeat" when the bill was not passed for a second time in Parliament.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tabled the bill during the medium-term budget policy statement on October 26, providing for a R5.41bn adjustment to national budgets.

The ANC failed to secure the presence of enough members in the National Assembly, although the party called for a "three-line-whip" on Tuesday and Wednesday, which means attendance is mandatory.

“The ANC could not muster enough votes to form quorum,” Maynier said “and not even Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s last-minute dash to vote was enough to prevent the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill from being defeated a second time in Parliament.

“What this proves is that the ANC are now so internally divided, so dysfunctional, so disinterested and so poorly disciplined that they are not even capable of getting the basics right, which is simply to show up and vote in Parliament,” Maynier said.

The DA does not support the bill, as it argues it provides for an “unfair share of revenue between the national, provincial and municipal spheres of government”.

“We will therefore not vote to support it when it is placed on the order paper for a third time on Tuesday November 22,” Maynier said.

Meanwhile, the United Democratic Movement’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa told News24 by phone that it’s an “embarrassment that a bill of this importance” could not be passed.

“It means the ANC are not serious about governance, because if they were, they would be able to get the numbers together. The ANC must pull itself together and do what it was elected to do.”

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