Lerato Mbhiza
Monday marks the deadline for the ANC to submit its full cadre deployment records dating back to January 1, 2013, to the DA after the Constitutional Court rejected the ANC’s final appeal bid against a High Court judgment that mandated the handover within five working days.
The governing party is under pressure to comply with the court order, and the DA has warned that failure to do so may lead to the official opposition pursuing a contempt of court order. Such an order could result in consequences such as fines, imprisonment, or both.
The ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said although it would hand over the records, the opposition party and the lawyer were both “fully aware” that deployment committee minutes for five years could not be found.
The ANC told the Zondo commission probing state capture in June 2021 that despite a “thorough search” for the minutes of its national deployment committee, it could find no documents “for the period December 2012 to December 2017”. This was when President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the committee.
“Dr Leon Schreiber and the DA are fully aware of these facts, but have chosen to engage in deliberate misrepresentation, threats and false expectations of what might be contained in the records,” said Bhengu-Motsiri .
“The ANC rejects the DA’s threats to lay charges of contempt of court against our leadership. The ANC has followed all requirements of the Promotion of Access to Information Act in complying with the court order” she said .
Nevertheless, the party said it would hand over “all records that have been found, and give an explanation regarding those records which either do not exist, or have not been able to be found”.
She added that “precautions” had been taken to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act, “to protect the personal information of those who have not given consent for its release”.
The ANC continues to maintain that deployment by political parties is not unique to itself, reiterating that its cadre development policy and deployment strategy are “designed to advance the constitutional goal of transformation”.
In his state capture report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found that the ANC believed it was “entitled” to deploy “its people” to the boards of state-owned enterprises, even if this was to the detriment of the entity and the country.
It also found that the deployment committee made recommendations or stated preferences when it came to educational institutions, judicial vacancies, local government and international organisations, among others.
Zondo said that the deployment policy was both unconstitutional and illegal, violating the Public Service Act and several subsections of the Constitution, and played an enabling role in state capture.
Ramaphosa has defended the practice. Both he and ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told Zondo, when appearing before the commission, that the committee did not decide on appointments.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said during his party’s 2024 election manifesto launch in Tshwane on Saturday that the ANC had made a request for an extension, which the DA had declined.
According to the DA, it was a verbal request by the ANC’s lawyers after the apex court ruled last week that it must hand over the documents within five working days.
“After delaying for more than three years following the DA’s initial request for these records to be made public to expose Ramaphosa’s role in State Capture, the ANC yesterday came crawling back to the DA, begging us to give them more time,” Steenhuisen said.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to respond to Ramaphosa and the ANC directly. No, you cannot get more time. Not to hand over these records, and not in government.
“It would be regrettable if Dr Schreiber misuses the noble provisions of our Constitution which guarantees citizens the right of access to information for narrow party-political advantage. The ANC points, once again, that deployment by members by political parties is not unique to the ANC or South Africa, as the DA is well, and directly, aware. The ANC’s cadre development policy and deployment strategy is designed to advance the constitutional goal of transformation” she said .
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