The ANC is expected to face off with the DA at the high court in Pretoria on Monday over the alleged corruption of cadre deployment.
The ANC is accused of appointing its cadres to significant positions in government based on loyalty and not merit and skills.
DA spokesperson for public service and administration Leon Schreiber said the opposition party wants the court to declare this corruption unlawful and unconstitutional.
“This is, without any doubt, the single most important court case for rebuilding state capacity in South Africa’s democratic history,” said Schreiber.
“Through the evil practice of cadre deployment, the ANC illegally interferes in appointment processes to ensure that corrupt cadres are appointed on the basis of their loyalty to the ANC, rather than on the basis of merit and skill.
“As the Zondo Commission confirmed and as the DA revealed when we exposed minutes of the ANC’s cadre deployment committee last year, this practice forms the very foundation of state capture. Abolishing cadre deployment is therefore a fundamental prerequisite if we ever want to end loadshedding and halt the collapse of state institutions.”
Schreiber said the urgency of this matter has been confirmed by the ongoing energy crisis, which by far has not been solved.
“Every time the lights go off, it is a reminder of the devastating impact that ANC cadre deployment has on hollowing out state institutions, including Eskom. Just last week, ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe shamelessly made it clear that the party is dead set on, once again, illegally interfering in the appointment process of new executive leadership at Eskom.
“In addition to Mantashe’s arrogant statement confirming why the ANC’s headquarters at Luthuli House is the appropriate target for the DA’s protest action against loadshedding, we will also be using this statement as further evidence for why a DA victory in this case is essential.
“The ANC has repeatedly made it clear that it will never abolish this corrupt practice out of its own volition, because it is the very lifeblood of ANC corruption. The party has openly defied the Zondo Commission’s finding that this practice is unconstitutional.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as president of the country, is even immorally abusing taxpayers money to oppose the DA’s case in a desperate attempt to protect ANC cadre corruption.”
According to Schreiber, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola recently revealed that Ramaphosa has used over R500 000 to oppose the DA’s cadre deployment case. He said, however, that the party is determined to crack down on corruption and is not giving up.
“No matter how much the ANC squeals in opposition, the DA is determined to use this court case to outlaw and abolish cadre deployment, whether the current governing party likes it or not.”
Schreiber is confident that victory in this case will pave the way for the DA in the 2024 general election.
“Victory in this case will also lay the foundation for the DA-led government that must arise after the 2024 election, wherein cadre deployment will be assigned to the dustbin of history and replaced by strictly merit-based appointments throughout the public sector,” he said.
The DA is adamant on taking the ANC down. Recently, it announced that it would March to the governing party’s headquarters, the Luthuli House, in Johannesburg next week over energy the crisis.
This after the Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted Eskom a compound tariff increases of 31.39% for the next two years.
DA leader John Steenhuisen decried the increase saying that South Africans have experienced the worst of power cuts in the past couple of months because of the failed ANC government, but are now expected to dig deeper in their already empty pockets.
“This Power To The People march is directed at the party whose corrupt policy of cadre deployment and corrupt tender manipulations have been directly responsible for the crisis we now find ourselves in,” said Steenhuisen on Tuesday.
“South Africans, who have already had to spend a third of 2022 in darkness and are burdened with indefinite stage-six loadshedding, are now expected to also pay for the looting and mismanagement of Eskom through exorbitant tariff increases.
“Keep in mind that electricity tariffs have already increased by more than 650% since this crisis started in 2007, which is quadruple the inflation rate over the same period.
“The DA rejects this tariff increase by Nersa, we reject stage-six loadshedding, and we reject government’s poor response or rather, lack of response, to the biggest crisis our country has faced in the history of our democracy.”
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