Speaker, I did check: It is not unparliamentary. Albert Einstein once said:
The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.
Cope continues with its hopeless pursuit of President Zuma, with disastrous consequences; first in Polokwane, then in the national general elections, and now they are going to be defeated disastrously here.
By entertaining frivolous motions of this nature, this House may well have elevated ridiculous political immaturity to an undeserved status. I contend that we carry an absolute majority mandate in this House, and again want to emphasise that this motion would have needed the support of some members of the ANC, which would not have happened. [Interjections.]
Speaker, I have had occasion to scrutinise the Rules of Parliament, and have consulted, and this has been confirmed by my father here, the hon Mangosuthu Buthelezi. We in the ANC would like to have a review of the Rules of Parliament, because this matter is not regulated in the Rules of Parliament.
Specifically, there should be an onus on any party proposing such a motion to show that it has a reasonable opportunity to carry through the constitutional provision of a majority. This should also ensure that there is no abuse of the Constitution for purposes other than what it was intended for, especially by the same people who always grandstand and stand up there as protectors of the Constitution. We must stop this abuse.
Calling for a motion of no confidence in a President is a serious matter. It is not something to be taken lightly. This constitutional provision is intended to allow Parliament to use this provision should the President fail on matters that he is constitutionally bound by. These matters are very clearly spelt out in sections 83 and 84. Read the Constitution. [Interjections.]
The allegations that are raised here about Zimbabwe and about Malema are not remotely connected to the Constitution. What is there about constitutional failure that you want to bring to our attention about President Mugabe? What is there about constitutional failure that you want to bring to our attention about Malema? Why should we be sitting here or standing here discussing Malema?
The opposition parties' latest publicity stunt comes as no surprise. As the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development has indicated, it comes at a time when the leadership of Cope has been accused of ineptitude, which all of us can see. It has to resort to theatrics to respond to accusations that it is being upstaged by the DA. And it continues to allow the DA to upstage it. They want to use Parliament to address their leadership squabbles. We should not allow this.
To Cope, I wish to say: Play the game, not the man. This is what has flawed your politics for so long. You have been playing the man and it has completely blinded your vision. You are obsessed with President Zuma. Get off it! [Applause.]
I was disappointed that the hon president of the IFP did not stick to the submission that he made to us at the state of the nation address. I want to repeat, purely for emphasis, what he said:
I respect President Zuma, warts and all, because behind him, rightly or wrongly, is the will of the democratic mandate of 66% of the South African people.
Hon Buthelezi, I wanted you to repeat this. You said that you could not hinder or oppose, without opposing the people of South Africa. "I cannot afford to see the President or his government fail", you said to us. "If they fail, my own country fails. If the President fails or the government fails, I will not applaud or rejoice, but weep. For, if they fail, our liberation fails."
That's what you said and that's what I respect you for. [Applause.]