‘ANC forced to bend knee before DA,’ says Schreiber as party hands over cadre deployment records

The African National Congress (ANC) says it has complied with a court order to hand over records of its deployment committee meetings to the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Last week, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) upheld a previous court ruling, which ordered the ANC to give the DA its deployment committee records.

The ANC’s appeal application was dismissed with costs as it was “not in the interest of justice to hear the matter”.

The governing party, therefore, had five days to hand over the records – including meeting minutes, emails and WhatsApp conversations.

The DA had warned that the ANC’s leadership risked arrest for being in contempt of court should the party fail to submit the documents.

‘DA is studying the documents’

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri confirmed on Monday that the documents were emailed to the attorneys of DA MP Leon Schreiber before 5pm

“The ANC remains steadfast in its respect for the Constitution and the laws of the republic.

“The rule of law is a foundational stone of the national democratic society that we seek to build by working together with all South Africans,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Bhengu-Motsiri added: “In pursuit of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, and prosperous society, the ANC will continue implementing its cadre development policy and deployment strategy to ensure that individuals with impressive qualifications, experience and credentials are deployed to build a better life for all South Africans.”

WATCH: ‘Cadre deployment is done in Western Cape and Tshwane’ – ANC

Schreiber also confirmed receipt of the records.

“After a three-year court battle, the ANC has been forced to bend the knee before the DA. For the first time in three decades, we have succeeded in piercing the ANC’s veil of cadre secrets.

“The DA is studying the documents and will update the public as soon as possible,” the DA MP said in a social media post.

The DA initially lodged a request for the ANC’s records in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in 2021 as part of the party’s greater pursuit to have cadre deployment declared unconstitutional and illegal.

‘Political gaslighting’

Earlier, the ANC accused the DA of “politically gaslighting” the ruling party over its cadre deployment policy.

The governing party said in a statement the DA was deliberately misinterpreting and creating false expectations of what was contained in the records.

It also rejected the DA’s threats to lay charges of contempt of court.

“The ANC points, once again, that deployment by members by political parties is not unique to the ANC or South Africa, as the DA is well, and directly, aware.

READ MORE: ANC blocks DA’s ‘undesirable’ anti-cadre deployment bill in Parliament

“The ANC’s cadre development policy and deployment strategy is designed to advance the constitutional goal of transformation.

“Similar policies are implemented in a number of countries by different parties,” the party said on Monday.

The ANC further pointed out that the DA itself and other political parties used “deployment practices” across parliamentary committees and elsewhere.

Committee minutes

The ANC deployment committee’s minutes, from 2018 to 2021, revealed how the ruling party allegedly ran a parallel process to fill certain positions at several government departments, agencies and the boards of state-owned enterprises (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 ANC has previously claimed to have lost the records of meetings by the committee between 2012 and 2017. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who defended the party’s policy, chaired the committee.

NOW READ: ‘It’s a very good policy’ – Mashatile defends ANC’s cadre deployment policy