Ramaphosa presided over worst ANC cadre deployment period in SA – Steenhuisen

President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot hide behind a public good-guy persona while continuing to cripple the state behind closed doors, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said during the party’s “True State of the Nation Address” on Monday.

Steenhuisen said that cadre deployment was the true reflection of state capture by the ANC.

He said the party was on a project intended to subvert the democratic principle of the separation of party and state.

“It has been allowed to continue, unabated, for the past 23 years, resulting in virtually every problem we face today,” said Steenhuisen.

“Cadre deployment has entrenched a culture of impunity, as those who fail at their jobs or who are caught stealing from the public are simply redeployed elsewhere.”

“And because ANC loyalists have been parachuted into the top of the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority], Saps [SA Police Service], the Hawks and Sars [SA Revenue Service], every single check and balance on the abuse of power has been weakened.”

ALSO READ: Twitter has had it with John Steenhuisen

“The ineffective are rewarding themselves, the incompetent are assessing themselves and the corrupt are policing themselves.”

He said while the army of well-paid deployed cadres grew, the state ceased to function with people who added no value to it.

Steenhuisen also said dysfunctional parastatals, and healthcare and education systems, were the result of capture through cadre deployment, adding that no one in the ANC had been more central to the deployment of party loyalists to positions in the state over the past decade than Ramaphosa.

“He headed up the ANC’s cadre deployment committee from 2014 to 2018, when he took over the presidency from Jacob Zuma. During this time some of the very worst appointments were made to our SOEs [state-owned enterprises] and public service, and corruption skyrocketed,” said Steenhuisen.

He added that it was imperative that Ramaphosa answered the questions the DA had sent to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

Watch the address below

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.