DA presents End Cadre Deployment Bill to Parliament

8 June 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Dr Leon Schreiber MP.

The DA today officially presented our End Cadre Deployment Bill to Parliament’s portfolio committee on public service and administration. The Bill – formally entitled the Public Administration Laws General Amendment Bill (PALGAB) – is designed to enforce merit-based appointments throughout the public service while making it illegal for politicians to work in the public administration. The Bill would also enhance the independence and powers of the Public Service Commission to enforce merit-based appointments and prevent cadre deployment.

Please see recording of the committee meeting here.

The ANC practice of cadre deployment is a job reservation scheme for party cronies that has effectively erased the line that is supposed to separate party and State. By making loyalty to the ANC the key criterion for appointment, the party has prevented skilled South Africans who are not ANC cadres from gaining employment in the public sector. The result is widespread corruption, State capture and service delivery collapse.

The DA is encouraged by the fact that, in subsequent presentations made during today’s committee meeting, both the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Department of Public Service and Administration supported key principles outlined in our End Cadre Deployment Bill, such as the proposed ban on politicians working in the civil service and enhancing the powers and independence of the PSC. It is clear that sustained DA pressure on this issue is having an impact.

The DA looks forward to the upcoming parliamentary vote on the Bill, and we call on all political parties in Parliament to support the End Cadre Deployment Bill. It is only by rebuilding the separation between party and State, replacing cadre deployment with professional appointments, and ensuring that all appointments are based strictly on merit, that we will be able to replace our failing, politically-captured State with a capable, independent and professional public service.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister for Public Service and Administration, 8 June 2022