Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says he will lodge contempt charges against the African National Congress (ANC) for not submitting records of the cadre deployment committee when President Cyril Ramaphosa was chairing the committee.
Steenhuisen said on Friday they will also appeal the judgment of the High Court in Pretoria that rejected their application on Thursday to declare cadre deployment unconstitutional and unlawful.
He said the fight over cadre deployment was far from over.
In the cadre deployment records that were given to them by the ANC this week, to meet the Constitutional Court deadline, they were redacted which is against the order of the apex court, said Steenhuisen.
He said it was puzzling that there were no records of the cadre deployment committee when Ramaphosa was heading the committee.
Ramaphosa became chairperson of the committee after his election at the Mangaung conference in December 2012 as deputy president of the ANC. He left the position in 2017 when he was elected President of the ANC and David Mabuza became deputy president of the party.
Steenhuisen said they will file a contempt of court application against the ANC for not including records for the period when Ramaphosa was chairperson of the cadre deployment committee.
There were no emails or WhatsApp messages of Ramaphosa, even though he chaired the committee.
“The DA has yesterday, issued a letter of demand to the ANC for it to fully comply with the Constitutional Court’s order with a deadline of tomorrow. If they do not adhere to the demand, we will seek an urgent contempt of court ruling that includes prison time aimed specifically at its its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, who acted on behalf of the ANC in this matter.
“We will use the precedent created in the Jacob Zuma case, when he was sent to prison for similarly being in contempt of a Constitutional Court order. Finally, we will pursue criminal charges against ANC officials involved in the destruction of information as part of a blatant cover-up campaign to try and wipe Ramaphosa’s fingerprints off the cadre deployment records,” said Steenhuisen.
Mbalula defended the ANC’s cadre deployment policy and said even the DA was using it in municipalities where it governs.
The ANC said it has complied with the order of the Constitutional Court and gave the DA all the records it has.
Early this week the ANC said it would give an explanation where there were no records available, but the party has complied with the order directed by the court.
The ANC said cadre deployment was practised in the Global North and Global South and South Africa was no exception.
A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that in most democracies, parties appoint their own people to implement their policies.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics