ANCYL's Malatji wants Steenhuisen to reverse controversial Cabanac hire

The controversy surrounding the decision by DA leader and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen to hire a known right-wing podcaster as his chief of staff shows that cadre deployment does not take place only in the ANC. 

This is according to ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji who on Tuesday called for Steenhuisen to reconsider his decision to hire Roman Cabanac. 

Malatji said these were all results of the outcomes of the elections which forced the ANC to get into bed with parties they would not ordinarily work with, such as the DA.   

Steenhuisen was appointed minister of agriculture by President Cyril Ramaphosa as part of the GNU agreements. 

Malatji said the GNU proved that cadre deployment did not exist only within the ANC, adding that it was the only party in its coalition that deployed educated politicians.

News24 recently revealed that Steenhuisen had written to public service and administration minister Mzamo Buthelezi seeking a deviation of the minimum requirements of candidates for appointment in his office.

The report claimed Steenhuisen sought approval to appoint key staff who did not meet the minimum requirements, with three of the four candidates possessing only matric. 

The DA won a court battle that forced the ANC to release all its cadre deployment policy records as it sought to prove, among others, that the party was behind hiring people it knew were not qualified for positions merely to disburse patronage.

“You start with Steenhuisen, he does not have post-matric qualification, but there was a myth all over the country that the most uneducated people are in the ANC,” Malatji said. 

“The racist are in the DA, not in the ANC. The racists have been the DA even in the beginning of parliament. There was a member of parliament of a DA that is known of racist remarks.”

Referencing Cabanac, Malatji said racist people who take the country back should not be part of the government.

“I think if there's one thing that must unite us as a country is that we can't allow anyone to take us backwards to racism, because the nation that we're trying to build has no space for that. And someone must talk to Steenhuisen that he must not allow that.”

He said the same standard requirements for black people should apply to their white counterparts in government. “But also, you can't say when it's black people who are not qualified, it's a problem but when it's white people, there's nothing wrong with it.

“Now, the same category that you want to put for deployment of people in political offices or wherever to say the requirement is a diploma, degrees, even in departments where they are led by opposition parties, including the DA, they must be able to produce certification, because that can't be only classified for only black people.”

The ANC, he said, was now clear that it would hire only qualified and competent people in its entities and in government. 

“You can see we've deployed our best now in government, because we've learnt from our mistakes ... Now, as part of our renewal programme and self-correcting, we're correcting some of those issues.”

Malatji said the DA has not released its cadre deployment records in the Western Cape, where he claims the policy has been in full force for years. Now that the DA is governing with the ANC at national level, it would ensure that people such as a Cabanac did not make it through the cracks. 

“But it's good that we're with them in government so that South Africans can see that the ANC with all its mistakes is the best organisation that has the interests of South Africans at heart.”

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