ANC says cadre deployment recommendations just ‘freedom of speech’

The African National Congress (ANC) defended its cadre deployment policy in court on Monday, saying the party is allowed to give input on government appointments.

‘Own criteria’

In its reply to the court challenge by the Democratic Alliance, the ANC said all political parties had the right to make suggestions on who should be appointed to key positions in the public service.

Advocate Les Morrison, ANC’s counsel, told the Pretoria High Court on Monday that the ruling party’s deployment committee expected the government to apply its own criteria when making appointments.

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“The ANC recognises that when one is appointed to government, the first duty is to government and that conflicts of duties must be resolved to government.

“That is a necessary incidence of employment and employees are obliged to devote their full time and attention to employer and government’s interests, whether government is the employer, to serve all people equally and they are not identical to party interests.”

Freedom of speech

Morrison also argued that the ANC was practicing its right to freedom of speech when it indicated which candidate it wanted, adding that the party only does so as a recommendation to government.

“What the DA is doing is trying to limit the rights of political parties, including itself, to say who they would like in public service because their version of the case and in their interpretation of the law, one can come to court and say I don’t like what they are saying so stop them because I think it contravenes a provision of the Constitution because it undermines democracy in some amorphous way.

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“But it doesn’t [because] it is not part of the prohibited categories of [free] speech and it is sacrosanct.”

Earlier, the DA also disputed the ANC’s argument that the deployment committee just merely made recommendations rather than force ministers to appoint cadres that were selected.

DA’s counsel, advocate Anton Katz, said the policy itself does not state that the committee’s functions were limited to making recommendations.

The case will continue in court on Tuesday.

Committee minutes

The DA has asked the Pretoria High Court to declare cadre deployment unconstitutional and illegal.

It lodged its case about two weeks before the final parts of the State Capture Commission’s report were released in June last year.

The ANC deployment committee’s minutes, from 2018 to 2021, revealed how the party ran a parallel process to fill certain positions at several government departments, agencies and the boards of SOEs.

According to the minutes from a meeting held on 22 March 2019, the committee preselected the appointment of judges for vacant posts in the judiciary.

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) at the time had two vacant positions, while the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) had one.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa defended the ANC’s cadre deployment policy during his testimony at the State Capture Commission, arguing the policy was an important part of implementing the ANC’s mandate.

The president also said the deployment committee did not keep records of its meetings from 2012 to 2017.

It also emerged that the ANC had intended to obtain an interdict against the commission, chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, from releasing the ruling party’s deployment committee minutes.