ANC challenges DA court victory to expose cadre deployment records

03 February 2023 - 12:38
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Counsel for government and President Cyril Ramaphosa says the DA's allegations about cadre deployment are not supported by facts.
Counsel for government and President Cyril Ramaphosa says the DA's allegations about cadre deployment are not supported by facts.
Image: Shonisani Tshikalange

The ANC intends to appeal the decision of the Johannesburg high court in relation to the application brought by the official opposition party to seek records of the ruling party’s national deployment committee under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

This comes after the DA scored a major legal victory against the ANC on Thursday, resulting in the court ordering the governing to hand over, within five court days, the records of the national cadre deployment committee for its work from January 1 2013 to January 1 2021.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu has communicated the ruling party’s intention to oppose the outcome, and said it may in due course consider conveying its full position on the matter should such a need arise after having consulted its legal team.

The DA said it is not surprised by a “panicked response” from the ruling party after the court’s decision to compel the party to release complete records of the deployment committee, including meeting minutes, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs and other documents.

DA MP Leon Schreiber said the ANC hastily announced its intention to appeal, seemingly before obtaining considered legal advice, and its rush to keep secrets from the people of South Africa at all costs confirmed there are “many skeletons” buried within the cadre deployment records sought by the DA.

“After all, if cadre deployment was as harmless as the ANC likes to claim, why are they so desperate to prevent the people of South Africa from seeing the truth about the party’s interference in appointment processes?” Schreiber asked.

EXPLAINED: DA’s legal victory to access ANC’s cadre deployment records

The official opposition party MP said the DA had repeatedly warned the ANC it would “rip out its corruption network by consigning cadre deployment corruption to the dustbin of history”.

“We are well on our way to winning this war, which is in the interest of every South African who wants an end to corruption and a start to proper service delivery, where officials are appointed based on merit and skill instead of on the basis of their loyalty to ANC corruption,” Schreiber said.

“We look forward to giving the ANC another hiding in court in our quest to free South Africa from corruption.”

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