The Democratic Alliance (DA) has claimed another “historic” victory in its ongoing legal battle to have the African National Congress’ (ANC) cadre deployment declared unconstitutional and unlawful.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed the ANC’s attempt to appeal the earlier ruling of the Johannesburg High Court, which held that the ANC must hand over complete records of its national cadre deployment committee to the DA.
The SCA ruling read that the application for leave to appeal was dismissed, with costs, on the grounds that there were no reasonable prospects of success in an appeal and there was no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard.
In a statement issued by the DA, the party said the ruling had vindicated the DA’s long-held position that it was illegal for the ANC to "hide the way in which it interferes in appointments 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 back rooms 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, lack of skills, and service delivery collapse in our country," the DA said.
The opposition party said that Monday’s ruling meant that the ANC had 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 former president Jacob Zuma’s administration.
The DA is currently also awaiting a ruling in its second court application, where it had asked the Pretoria High Court to declare ANC cadre deployment unconstitutional and unlawful.
"The combined effect of these two court cases will be to both pierce the veil of secrecy that shrouds cadre deployment and to smash the foundations upon which it is built.
“Defeating cadre deployment ahead of the 2024 election is an essential part of the groundwork being laid by the DA to take over and fix the South African State after the coming national election," the DA said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
IOL