Parliament ready for election of news speaker
Cape Town – Parliament says it is ready for the election of the new Speaker on Thursday.
Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo gave the go-ahead to the rules on the election process and appointed Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe to preside over the process.
The ANC has nominated former Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to succeed Thandi Modise as Speaker of the National Assembly.
Modise was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa as Defence Minister during a Cabinet reshuffle two weeks ago.
A spokesperson for Parliament Moloto Mothapo said if there was more than one nomination for the position of Speaker the process will be conducted by secret ballot.
This is in line with the rules on the election of the speaker.
Moloto said they will use two venues in the National Assembly to allow MPs to cast their ballots.
“There will be 166 MPs in the Members’ seats on the floor of the NA Chamber, 127 in the NA Public Gallery, 24 in the Officials’ Bay, and 92 in the E249 Committee Room,†said Mothapo.
“At the start of the proceedings, Judge President Hlophe will open the sitting and then call for nominations for the position of Speaker from amongst the Members of the NA (National Assembly).
If there is more than one nomination, Judge Hlophe will call for the voting process to be conducted by way of a secret ballot.
Although the setting is divided into 4 areas, the floor of the NA Chamber will serve as the voting station.
Four voting booths have been arranged to enable 4 members at a time to cast their votes,†said Mothapo.
“The entire voting process is expected to last for about 4 hours, with at least 1 hour dedicated to counting the votes,†he added.
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