In a move to escalate its battle against the ANC’s cadre deployment policy, the DA has announced its decision to submit applications under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
The decision comes in the wake of the high court’s dismissal of the DA’s case to have the policy and deployment strategy declared unconstitutional.
At an event in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday, the DA revealed its strategy alongside a new billboard urging voters to reject cadre deployment.
DA MP Leon Schreiber, who is spearheading this battle, said the party aims to unearth and publicise the minutes and records from the ANC’s provincial and regional cadre deployment committees, building on the momentum of a previous Constitutional Court victory that mandated the ANC to release the records of its national cadre deployment committee.
Additional cadre deployment committees
“Among the 1 300 pages of records from the ANC’s national cadre deployment committee obtained by the DA last week is a particular minute from a meeting held at Luthuli House on March 8 2019, which reads as follows: “Need to reconcile the work of the committee and the provincial deployment committees. Must meet with the provincial deployment committees [sic].”
Said Schreiber: “This minute confirms the existence of additional cadre deployment committees beyond the national committee that was chaired by Cyril Ramaphosa during the height of state capture.
“Additionally, a policy document that the ANC previously handed over to the state capture commission also confirms the existence of regional deployment committees.”
He clarified that evidence from the state capture commission and leaked documents, confirming the existence of these committees across various levels of the ANC’s structure, is what drives the DA’s decision.
Records from a national committee meeting that Ramaphosa presided over in 2019 and previous policy documents submitted to the commission are among the evidence.
Leaked documents
Additionally, leaked documents, including minutes from a regional committee meeting in the North West and a letter to municipal managers in the Eastern Cape, reveal unlawful interference in administrative appointments, highlighting the extent of the ANC’s cadre deployment strategy, he said.
Schreiber emphasised the significance of these revelations, noting that the same practices undermining national institutions are also at play at provincial and municipal levels.
The ANC has been given 30 days to comply with the DA’s PAIA application, with the DA threatening legal action should the governing party fail to respond.
“Just like we did in exposing the records of the national cadre deployment committee, the DA will defeat any attempt by the ANC to hide these provincial and regional records because it is in the public interest to see how the ANC unlawfully interferes in public sector appointments that hollow out the state, facilitate corruption, and cripple the delivery of services to citizens,” Schreiber said.
