ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli has dismissed plans by the EFF and MK Party to table a motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa, describing the two parties as an “unholy alliance” united only by their opposition to the president.Addressing the ANC parliamentary caucus media briefing on Wednesday, Ntuli said the ANC would not support any attempt to remove Ramaphosa through a motion of no confidence and argued both parties should instead focus their efforts on the newly established Section 89 impeachment committee.“The MK Party and the EFF is a very unholy alliance,” Ntuli said.“What really unites them is opposition to the ANC, with President Cyril Ramaphosa as a principal enemy for them. If anything were to happen tomorrow to President Ramaphosa, they will have nothing to work together for.”Ntuli’s remarks come days after Parliament constituted the 31-member Section 89 committee tasked with investigating allegations that Ramaphosa may have violated the Constitution or the law in relation to the Phala Phala matter.Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana was elected chairperson of the committee on Monday.Ntuli said the ANC supported Gana’s appointment and revealed the party had deliberately decided not to insist on an ANC chairperson.He said concerns had been raised by political parties that an ANC-led committee could face allegations of bias because the investigation involved the country’s president and the ANC’s leader.Ntuli said he had engaged parties, including those in the government of national unity (GNU), and concluded there was merit in selecting a chairperson from outside the ANC.“We thought we said to the DA we think we can agree on that name,” Ntuli said of Gana’s nomination.He described Gana as a “very cool, calm and collected” parliamentarian who would be capable of leading the process impartially.Ntuli also disclosed opposition parties had held discussions before the committee’s first meeting aimed at preventing the ANC from securing the chairpersonship.“There was a caucus of all political parties which excluded the ANC, the PA, the IFP and Al Jama-ah,” he said.“What I learned was the central theme in that caucus is that we’ve got at all costs to block the ANC from chairing the committee.”Ntuli said those efforts were ultimately disrupted when the ANC itself proposed Gana for the position.No confidenceOn the planned motion of no confidence, Ntuli said there was no urgency to pursue such a process while the impeachment committee was at an early stage.“The impeachment committee has been set up. It’s intended to deal with the very same issues they are raising on the motion of no confidence,” he said.“We believe if they were acting in the best interests of the people of South Africa, they should be waiting and gearing their energy towards the impeachment committee.”Ntuli reiterated Ramaphosa continued to enjoy the confidence of the ANC caucus and said the party would resist any attempt to remove him from office.“There is no way we are going to allow the opponents of the ANC to determine for us who should be the president of the ANC and the president of the country,” he said.“President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected by the National Assembly. He enjoys the support of the ANC.”Ntuli welcomed the establishment of the impeachment committee, saying the process was an important constitutional mechanism to ensure executive accountability.The committee has been mandated to investigate whether Ramaphosa committed a serious violation of the Constitution or the law, engaged in serious misconduct or is unable to perform the functions of office.Ntuli said Parliament’s rules committee would first need to finalise detailed procedures governing the impeachment process before the committee could begin its substantive work.He said one of the committee’s first tasks would be determining whether there was a case for Ramaphosa to answer.Ntuli also used the briefing to defend the ANC’s parliamentary study groups after concerns were raised by some GNU partners about their role.He said ANC study groups were internal caucus structures used by party MPs to prepare for parliamentary work, including committee business, oversight of departments, legislation and public participation processes.Ntuli rejected claims the study groups allowed ANC MPs to interfere in government administration or embed themselves in departmental processes.He said officials from government departments were occasionally invited to provide factual and technical briefings to ANC MPs, but insisted these were “information-sharing sessions only”.He said all political parties were entitled to request information from government departments to assist them in carrying out oversight work, provided such requests complied with the law and relevant protocols on the disclosure of official information.Ntuli also addressed tensions between South Africans and foreign nationals, rejecting what he called the “strange notion” that South Africans were xenophobic.He, however, accused some businesses of acting unlawfully by employing undocumented migrants, paying them in cash and avoiding contributions to UIF and other statutory obligations.Ntuli said these practices excluded South Africans from job opportunities and fuelled public anger, even where statistics did not support the claim that foreign nationals were responsible for unemployment.He said the solution to migration pressures did not lie only in border enforcement, but in regional economic development.Ntuli said South Africa had to work with neighbouring countries, including Mozambique and Zimbabwe, to improve economic conditions so fewer people were forced to migrate.