ANC hoped to stop Zondo from making cadre minutes public

It has emerged that the African National Congress (ANC) intended to obtain an interdict against the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture from releasing the party’s deployment committee minutes.

The deployment committee minutes were attached to the first part of the state capture report, which was released earlier this month.

Minutes

The governing party expressed its dissatisfaction to the commission’s chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, for making the deployment committee’s minutes public without being warned first, City Press reported.

This follows the ANC’s request to the commission before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s testimony on 11 and 12 August last year.

The ANC asked Zondo twice – the second time was in October – to warn the party before disclosing the minutes to the public.

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According to Rapport, the ANC was planning to get an interdict after learning that the commission intended to publish the minutes.

This came after the Democratic Alliance (DA) filed an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to obtain the minutes.

The commission, however, released the minutes via it’s website in December, ignoring both the DA’s and ANC’s requests in the process.

Following the ANC’s complaint, Zondo, in a letter sent to the party on Friday, explained that the minutes were released because it was in the public interest.

Zondo said it was important for the public to know how the ANC’s deployment committee influences decisions and appointments made in government as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The chairperson also indicated that there was no need for a decision to make or not make the minutes public as they had “already been made public on the commission’s website”.

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Meanwhile, political analyst, Dr Ralph Mathekga, echoed Zondo’s words as he pointed out the importance of voters knowing the internal politics of a political party.

“We have to know as voters what the parties we put in power are discussing in these meetings… especially when it involves the appointment of party officials to important positions.

“It is indeed unprecedented, but important nonetheless. Usually, decision-making processes are often veiled in secrecy with no accountability,” Mathekga told IOL.

He also said the commission, through the minutes, was highlighting how cadre deployment may have been one of the driving forces of state capture.

“In other words, the capture of the state started in the ANC and went to the government,” he continued.

Deployment committee

The minutes, from 2018 to 2021, appear to show how the ANC ran a parallel deployment 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.

Ramaphosa defended the ANC’s policy of deployment of its members into the public service during his testimony, 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.

Perjury charge

Last week, the DA wrote to Zondo requesting that he consider laying perjury charges against Ramaphosa.

The party is seeking a ConCourt order against the president for “misleading” the commission during his testimony on 28 April 2021.

“Ramaphosa denied that the ANC’s cadre deployment committee sought to influence appointments to the judiciary. After he initially denied that the appointment of judges was ever even discussed,” DA MP Leon Schreiber said.

Schreiber argued that Ramaphosa’s denial was “untruthful” in light of the ANC’s deployment committee minutes.

The DA previously called for a parliamentary debate over the ANC’s cadre deployment minutes as well as the state capture report.

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