DA submits PAIA request to Ramaphosa for minutes of ANC cadre deployment committee meetings

14 February 2021

In our ongoing quest to dismantle cadre deployment, which is the root cause of state capture and corruption in South Africa, the DA has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) request to Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as president of the ANC. In the PAIA, we request Ramaphosa to provide the DA with a complete record of minutes for every meeting of the ANC’s cadre deployment committee that took place since 1 January 2013 – when Ramaphosa reportedly became chairperson of the committee. According to section 56 of PAIA, he has 30 days to respond to our request.

In addition to requesting detailed minutes of discussions held at each meeting of the committee, we also want access to a list of all decisions taken by the committee, a list of all documents – including vacancy advertisements and CVs – considered by the committee, and copies of all correspondence informing organs of state of the decisions taken by the committee.

The DA has submitted this request in terms of section 50 of PAIA, which directs that a private body “must” grant access “to any record of a private body if that record is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.” As we explain to Ramaphosa in our request, the DA strongly believes that the public has the right to know the extent to which the ANC has used cadre deployment to circumvent section 197 (3) of the Constitution, which provides that “no employee of the public service may be favoured or prejudiced only because that person supports a particular political party or cause.”

Fundamentally, this request is about protecting the right to equality of all South Africans, as outlined in section 9 of the Bill of Rights. Among others, this provision prohibits unfair discrimination against any person on the basis of “conscience” and “belief.” Cadre deployment violates both section 197 (3) and the right to equality, because it explicitly favours members of the ANC in appointments to critical public service positions.

The South African public has a right to know what goes on in the smoke-filled backrooms of Luthuli House during meetings of Ramaphosa’s cadre deployment committee.

They have a right to know the full truth of how cadre deployment has robbed hard-working professionals of opportunities in the public service, because the ANC has elevated “loyalty” to the party above competence and merit. The have a right to know that cadre deployment is the fundamental reason behind collapsing service delivery and out-of-control corruption everywhere the ANC governs. And they have a right to know that the key reason why the DA is so much more effective at service delivery and good governance than any other party in South Africa, is because we value competence over politics, do not have a cadre deployment committee, and resolutely uphold the separation between party and state.

If Ramaphosa has nothing to hide, he will surely have no problem with acceding to our request. The DA looks forward to the President providing us with the requested cadre deployment documents, so that South Africans can finally understand how this evil policy has captured and corrupted our state.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister for Public Service and Administration, 14 February 2021