President Cyril Ramaphosa. File picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
ALL EYES are on 400 MPs in the National Assembly as they vote on the Section 89 report and whether to institute impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This comes after the ANC told its MPs that they would have to vote against the report.
Ramaphosa is taking the report, of the panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, on legal review.
He has challenged the report, saying it made errors in finding against him.
But opposition MPs, who would need to sway a number of ANC members to back them, want Parliament to support the report to allow for the impeachment process to begin.
Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula rejected the latest bid by the African Transformation Movement for the assembly to use a secret ballot.
Mapisa-Nqakula said the voting would be an open ballot.
The Speaker said she had received letters from the ATM, UDM, PAC, African Independent Congress and ACDP calling for the secret ballot.
But the ANC said it wanted an open ballot.
The Phala Phala scandal has engulfed Ramaphosa over the last few months with opposition parties calling for his head.
But Ramaphosa has stood his ground, saying he was challenging the report in court.
The Constitutional Court has not set the date in which it would hear the application.
The vote on the Section 89 report by MPs comes a few days before the ANC holds its 55th national elective conference in Nasrec, where Ramaphosa is facing a challenge from Dr Zweli Mkhize.