ANC ordered to release cadre files

The Johannesburg high court on Thursday ordered the governing ANC to hand over its cadre deployment committee records to DA public service & administration shadow minister Leon Schreiber within five days.

Schreiber lodged an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act in 2021 for the ANC to hand over its cadre deployment committee records dating back to January 1 2013 when President Cyril Ramaphosa became its chair.

Judge Willem Wepener found that the ANC’s refusal to make public minutes, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs and all other records of its cadre deployment committee was “unlawful and invalid”.

“The decision of the ANC to refuse Schreiber’s request for access to information, dated February 22 2021, is declared unlawful and invalid and is set aside,” the judgment read.

ANC head of legal Krish Naidoo said: “We have instructed our attorneys to apply for leave to appeal the judgment. That will be attended to first thing tomorrow [Friday].”

Schreiber said the ruling is a “historic victory” for transparency and the rule of law.

“It creates new jurisprudence confirming that political parties are not elevated above the constitution, and makes it clear that politicians who corruptly interfere in affairs of state cannot hide behind a veil of secrecy.

“For nearly three decades, the ANC’s cadre deployment committee secretly interfered in appointments across the state, directly causing the collapsing service delivery and loadshedding crisis we all experience on a daily basis. That secrecy ends now, thanks to the DA’s relentless fight for the public’s right to know the truth about cadre deployment.”

The cadre deployment policy, which the DA wants declared unconstitutional and replaced with merit-based appointments throughout the public sector, has been used by the ANC to help fast-track transformation and to better implement its policies.

However, it has been blamed for a series of service delivery failures, with fingers pointed at the ANC for appointing cadres to critical roles in departments, agencies and enterprises who often lack the requisite skills, competence or training and experience to run them.

In the final part of the state capture report released in June 2022, commission chair and chief justice Raymond Zondo found the policy to be unconstitutional and illegal. This is after it came under much criticism at the commission, with evidence leaders suggesting it is one of the foundations of corruption and inefficiency in the government and state-owned enterprises.

In January, the DA approached the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to have the policy declared unlawful and unconstitutional. Judgment was reserved.

Yesterday Schreiber said once the records are made public, “the DA calls on all sectors of society to rally behind our End Cadre Deployment Bill ... currently serving before parliament, so that we may finally bring an end to this scourge and begin the arduous but urgent journey of building a professional, skilled and merit-based public sector”.

“The DA will not rest until cadre deployment corruption ... is consigned to the dustbin of history.”