The Constitutional Court today dismissed with costs the Motion of No
Confidence case brought by the DA against the Speaker of the National
Assembly and the Chief Whip of the ANC in Parliament.

Our victory in court today follows our two consecutive victories on the
matter.  On November 2012 the Western Cape High Court ruled that, in
terms of the doctrine of separation of powers, the judiciary cannot
interfere in the internal business of Parliament. On December 2012 eight
Concourt judges ruled against the DA's application to have the case
urgently heard by the Concourt with a view to have the motion of no
confidence urgently debated by the National Assembly.

We hold firmly to our view that this matter (disagreement amongst parties
regarding programming matter) should not have been brought to Court, as
in our view, it is a political dispute that can be resolved by parties
within Parliament. The judiciary should not be placed in an uncomfortable
position of interfering in internal affairs of an independent arm of the
state, unless so directed by the Constitutuon. This view formed part of
our arguments in court, and we are indeed vindicated that the case has
been dismissed.

We welcome the Concourt's direction that the rules of the National
Assembly should be reviewed with a view to bring them in line with the
constitutional rights of MPs to propose motions and provide for deadlock
breaking mechanism. In fact, the process for the review of rules had
already started long before the case was heard by the Western Cape High
Court last year. We are confident that the process will be concluded
before the date set by the Court.

We hope that this judgment will serve as a strong lesson to the DA that
internal parliamentary matters should be left to parliament's own
determination, not the courts'. Parliament should not be controlled
through the courts by those with deep pockets to bankroll their frivolous
litigations.

Our victory in Concourt today is a victory for the rule of law and the
doctrine of separation of powers.