ANC in panicked scramble to hide cadre deployment records from the South African people

21 June 2023

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in possession of a letter from the attorneys representing the African National Congress (ANC) in that party’s failed bid to hide its cadre deployment records from the public. In the letter, the ANC’s attorneys indicate to the High Court in Johannesburg that they have received instructions to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in a panicked bid to hide the truth about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s involvement in cadre deployment corruption from the South African people.

This comes after the ANC were denied leave to appeal the DA’s victory in the High Court to make public complete ANC cadre deployment records - including minutes, emails, WhatsApps and CVs - dating back to 1 January 2013 when Ramaphosa became cadre deployment chairman.

It is clear that the ANC is now in a desperate panic to hide the truth about cadre deployment. If there was truly nothing nefarious about this practice - as the ANC likes to deceitfully claim - why is the party so desperate to keep it a secret?

There is only one logical answer: the records are utterly damning and will reveal how the cadre deployment committee under Ramaphosa’s chairmanship illegally interfered in appointment processes to appoint the criminals who captured and corrupted the state.

The ANC’s panicked tactic of trying to petition the SCA is doomed to fail and the DA will defeat it like we did in the High Court. The ANC simply has no case for why these documents should be hidden from public view. The cadre deployment committee directly interferes in appointment processes to public institutions, which means the public has an inalienable right to know how this corrupt committee operates.

The DA will continue to fight for transparency and to reveal the full truth of the complicity of Ramaphosa’s cadre deployment committee in state capture and corruption. Every time there is load shedding, or when the taps run dry, or services are not delivered, the people of South Africa pay the price for ANC cadre deployment corruption, which is designed to appoint “cadres” to positions of power on the basis of loyalty to the ANC, thereby sidelining more skilled and meritorious applicants.

The DA will not rest until this evil practice is exposed, declared unconstitutional and abolished from the face of our country.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister for Public Service and Administration, 21 June 2023