Now DA guns for ANC cadre deployment in the provinces
• Party prepares Paia application after ‘smoking gun’
The DA says it is on course to file a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application to obtain and “expose all minutes and records” from the ANC’s nine provinces and regional cadre deployment committees.
This follows the Constitutional Court’s ruling two weeks ago compelling the ANC to hand over all its national cadre deployment committee records since January 1 2013, when President Cyril Ramaphosa became the committee chair.
DA public service & administration shadow minister Leon Schreiber said a minute in the documents provided by the ANC was the “smoking gun” that confirmed the “existence of additional cadre deployment committees” beyond the national committee that was chaired by Ramaphosa.
The particular minute from a meeting held at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters on March 8 2019 read: “Need to reconcile the work of the committee and the provincial deployment committees. Must meet with the provincial deployment committees [sic].”
Schreiber said: “Using the precedent created in the DA’s Constitutional Court victory, which ordered the ANC to hand over complete records of its national cadre deployment committee, we will now pursue the same records from provincial and regional committees following evidence from the state capture commission, and a series of documents leaked to the DA which confirm the existence of these committees across provincial and municipal party structures.
“The DA will submit a fresh Paia application to the ANC to obtain meeting minutes, a list of decisions, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs and all other documents relevant to the work of all regional and provincial cadre deployment committees dating back to January 1 2013, when Ramaphosa became the national chair of this political racketeering syndicate.”
He said that according to Paia, the ANC would have 30 days to comply with the DA’s application, which is based on the same rationale that led to its Constitutional Court victory. “If the ANC fails to comply, the DA will see them back in court in 30 days.”
He said it was in the public interest to see how the ANC interfered in public sector appointments.
Schreiber said it was clear that the collapse of provincial and local government was the consequence “of a carefully designed ANC racket to capture, corrupt and collapse all spheres of government in SA”.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party regarded cadre deployment as the “root of all evil”, holding SA back from a merit-based public service.
The DA maintains that through the policy the ANC has illegally interfered in appointment processes to ensure its cadres are appointed on the basis of their loyalty to the governing party rather than on merit and skill.
In the final part of the state capture commission report released in June 2022, chief justice Raymond Zondo declared the policy unconstitutional and illegal.
The Pretoria high court last week dismissed the DA’s application to have the ANC cadre deployment policy declared unconstitutional a decision the party said would be appealed.
The issue has turned into a political hot potato, with former DA senior leaders claiming the party also practised cadre deployment in the provinces and municipalities it ran.
Former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi accused the DA of practising cadre deployment. Baloyi, who left the DA to head a political start-up Xiluva, said DA-run municipalities could not appoint senior management without the approval of the party’s federal executive.
He said that when he was DA mayor of Midvaal from 2013 to 2021 he was required to submit a list of candidates for municipal heads of departments to the federal executive before making any appointments.
Former head of the DA Mmusi Maimane, who left to lead a new political outfit, Build One SA (Bosa), has challenged DA federal council chair Helen Zille to release documents of the official opposition’s “own cadre deployment”.
This follows a social media post Zille published in 2022, in which she said “that policy was introduced under Mmusi. When I came back, we recognised it as cadre deployment and the policy was rescinded. That is the fact.”
Bosa said there was no cadre deployment policy in the DA under Maimane.
But on Tuesday, Steenhuisen seemed to contradict Zille, saying: “Mr Maimane was a leader of the party and he has these minutes, why doesn’t he produce them? Mr Baloyi has these minutes, why doesn’t he produce them?
“Why is the onus now on the DA to produce something that is being alleged, that we maintain doesn’t exist. There has never been a cadre deployment committee in the DA.”
The DA leader said there had never been cadre deployment discussions and “we have never looked at a list of people who are party loyalists ... that these are people who need to go to government departments.
“What we have always sought to do is to ensure that wherever we govern, that the processes that govern the appointments of important people into key strategic positions are fair, open and transparent and are not jobs for pals, or friends of the mayor, or the like.
“I can say, absolutely, the DA has never practised cadre deployment, ever, and no such minutes exist.”
THE DA REGARDED CADRE DEPLOYMENT AS THE ‘ROOT OF ALL EVIL’, HOLDING SA BACK FROM A MERIT-BASED PUBLIC SERVICE