ANC meets deadline to produce cadre deployment records
The ANC has met the constitutional court deadline of 5pm Monday to hand over its cadre deployment records to the Democratic Alliance.
In a statement, DA MP Leon Schreiber said his party was studying the documents.
“After a three year court battle, the ANC has been forced to bend the knee before the DA. For the first time in three decades, we have succeeded in piercing the ANC’s veil of cadre secrets. The DA is studying the documents and will update the public as soon as possible,” he said.
The DA is expecting that the records will detail ANC internal discussions on the deployment of key figures in three arms of government, which resulted in state capture.
The official opposition is particularly interested in cadre deployment records during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s time as the head of the ANC’s deployment committee.
Chief justice Raymond Zondo’s state capture report found that Ramaphosa failed to give an honest account of the ANC deployment committee’s role in recommending appointments in the judiciary.
Minutes subpoenaed by the commission found that the committee had made recommendations and indicated its preferences on judges.
The Zondo report revealed that the committee has wide-ranging power and arrogates to itself the decisions to “recommend” members of cabinet, directors and directors generals in government departments, chapter nine institutions and state owned entities.
Schreiber said the handover of the records was a victory for transparency and the rule of law. He added that the records must include complete meeting minutes, email correspondence, WhatsApp conversations, CVs and all other relevant documentation dating back to January 2013.
“If the ANC has erased and manipulated parts of the information, or sought to otherwise undermine the Constitutional Court’s order, the DA will launch further legal action to hold ANC leaders personally accountable,” he said.
“As soon as we have processed the voluminous documentation, the DA will fulfil our longstanding undertaking to make public the ANC’s dirty cadre secrets for every South African to see.”
Schreiber said the DA’s victory was yet another important landmark on its journey to abolishing cadre deployment corruption in South Africa.
“ANC cadre deployment laid the foundation for state capture, for systemic corruption, and for the service delivery collapse that caused load shedding, water-shedding, and the accelerating failure of the state,” he said.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the ruling party “remains steadfast in its respect for the Constitution and the laws of the republic”.
“The rule of law is a foundational stone of the national democratic society that we seek to build by working together with all South Africans,” she said.
“In pursuit of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, and prosperous society, the ANC will continue implementing its cadre development policy and deployment strategy to ensure that individuals with impressive qualifications, experience and credentials are deployed to build a better life for all South Africans.”