ANC Loses The Supreme Court Appeal Not To Hand Over Cadre Deployment Records To DA

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed with costs the ANC’s appeal to the earlier ruling of the Johannesburg High Court, which held that the African National Congress (ANC) must hand over complete records of its national cadre deployment committee to the Democratic Alliance (DA) within five days.

THE SCA RULING ON THE APPEAL 

The SCA ruled that, “having considered the Notice of Motion and the other documents filed, it is ordered that… the application for leave to appeal is dismissed with costs on the grounds that there are no reasonable prospects of success in an appeal and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard.”

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WHY DID THE DA RUN TO COURT?

The DA had run to court, noting that it was illegal for the ANC to hide the way in which it appoints to the public administration in government departments, municipalities, and state-owned enterprises.

“For over two decades, a small group of senior ANC figures have regularly met in smoke-filled backrooms at Luthuli House to corrupt appointment processes by ensuring that only “loyal cadres” of the ANC are appointed to positions of power in the public sector. As a result, skilled and meritorious applicants are sidelined, with positions reserved on the basis of loyalty to the ANC. This is why the DA has long held that cadre deployment is the root cause of state capture, a lack of skills, and service delivery collapse in our country, the DA noted.

Further, the party alleged that the secrecy has been instrumental in the ANC’s practice of cadre deployment corruption because it makes it impossible for the South African people to see how appointment processes are corrupted.

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According to the SCA’s ruling, the ANC has five working days to hand over all of the records requested by the DA, including meeting minutes, CVs, email correspondence, and Whatsapp conversations of the cadre deployment committee dating back to January 1, 2013, when President Cyril Ramaphosa became cadre deployment chairman in Jacob Zuma’s administration.

Notably, the DA further noted that it’s also awaiting a ruling in the second court application, where they asked the Pretoria High Court to declare ANC cadre deployment unconstitutional and unlawful.

“The DA is waging this lawfare campaign against cadre deployment because we understand that abolishing this practice and replacing it with merit-based appointments to the public sector based purely on skill is essential to our mission to rescue South Africa,” the party said on their website.

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