DA’s case to stop ANC cadres ‘unlikely to change the status quo of the ruling party’

Two leading political analysts yesterday said the high court challenge lodged by the Democratic Alliance against the ANC policy of cadre deployment was unlikely to change the status quo of the ruling party. But they conceded the official opposition’s test case was going to open a can of worms.

DA shadow minister of public service and administration Dr Leon Schreiber and party leader John Steenhuisen described the case as “a historic and unprecedented day – not to challenge government policy, but directly attacking the ANC for its policy of cadre deployment”.

They told journalists outside the Pretoria High Court of the party’s determination to root out cadre deployment and corruption, which has seen the collapse of several government institutions and state-owned enterprises.

Independent political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga expressed scepticism, dismissing the DA court challenge as “a futile exercise”.

Institute for Global Dialogue political analyst Sanusha Naidu and University of South Africa political science professor Dirk Kotzé both saw the case as setting an important precedent.

Naidu said the DA was likely to be emboldened by a precedent set in Johannesburg when mayor Mpho Phalatse successfully reversed the fixed-term contracts of ANC-deployed staff the party had unlawfully converted into permanent jobs just before the election.

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The decision was duly reversed by the city’s new council, despite a fightback by the ANC-aligned SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), with the Phalatse administration vindicated in the Labour Court.

“We have to remember that ANC cadre deployment is a grey area – a matter straddling between the ruling party and state,” Naidu said.

“It is about how the state has been incapacitated in service delivery. The case is unprecedented in that it challenges another party’s internal dynamics. What has happened in Johannesburg is surely going to propel the DA forward in campaigning.”

Kotzé said: “This is quite a unique case, something which as far as I can recall, has never been done in South Africa – challenging another party’s internal processes. What makes this of public interest is the fact that the ANC is the governing party, which is dictated to by its deployment committee – something which has an implication for the country as far as the appointment of civil servants is concerned.

“These include ambassadors, ministers, heads of Chapter 9 institutions and captains of SOEs. There are public consequences for the decisions taken by the ANC deployment committee, with parliament having to endorse the names of candidates to lead such institutions as the IEC.

“There must be a clear distinction in what should be regarded as private or public and the role of political parties,” Kotzé said.

“This is going to set a precedent for the political party side of government and give us a better understanding of how that relationship should be in the future.”

Describing the court challenge as historic, Schreiber said: “Today is an unprecedented day because what we are doing here in court is not to challenge government policy, we are directly attacking the ANC for its policy of cadre deployment.

“At the root of the failure – whether there are potholes in the streets, Eskom collapsing or whether you are dealing with corrupt tenders – in each of those things you will find an ANC cadre who should never have been appointed to that position in the first place.

“The ANC cadre deployment committee, which was chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa from 2013 to 2018, ensured that only ANC people were appointed to top positions, not necessarily those who have the ability to do the job.

“If we want to fix the state, we should make sure that we render cadre deployment unconstitutional so that it never happens again.”

He said the DA had begun “the start of the fight and not the end”.

“We have already taken the fight directly to the ANC in parliament so that we can reform our laws against cadre deployment. Even if that does not win the battle, we now have the court – the fight that will overwhelm the ANC, a fight that will end cadre deployment.

“It is an ANC policy based on its whims – not how free society works and not how you make the best appointments. By ending this practice and having it declared illegal and unconstitutional, we will be able to see fair appointment processes where every South African will have equal opportunities.”

– brians@citizen.co.za