Ramaphosa revealed he’s been overseeing the new Broederbond

One of the more revealing moments of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s lacklustre performance before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture was his defence of cadre deployment.

In a rare moment of real emotion, Ramaphosa pleaded with Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo not to find that the party’s deployment committee be scrapped. He had good reason for his panicked response.

The records and minutes of the party’s cadre deployment committee, obtained by subpoena, show that contrary to Ramaphosa’s claims that the committee exercised only “soft power”, the reality was different.

The committee, as outlined at length by the evidence leaders, “imposed its will” through “commands, prescriptions and instructions”.

The results are no less sinister and calculated than the machinations of the Afrikaner Broederbond, which, during the apartheid era, oversaw the National Party’s mandate to “transform” South Africa by placing its chosen flunkies into every key position in society in order to exercise hegemonic control.

During proceedings of the Zondo commission, it transpired that many of the deployment committee’s records were missing. The missing years happen to coincide with Ramaphosa’s 2012 to 2017 chairmanship of the committee.

Evidence leader Paul Pretorius said he found it “improbable” that minutes had not been kept for that period and asked whether they had been lost or destroyed.

Ramaphosa pondered deeply, then eventually said he could not recall having gone through the minutes of previous meetings when presiding as chair.

In other words, minutes had not been kept.

This “unfortunate” lapse of record keeping was due to the frenetic nature of the committee’s work. It was always “on the go”, dealing with “so many issues”. And it was all a blur because “the ANC had so many committee meetings, one after the other”.

These are not inconsequential matters.

In March 2019, when minutes were again being kept, the deployment committee made its recommendations on two judges to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court, another to fill a position on the Supreme Court of Appeal.

While we do not know the names of those chosen by the deployment committee, we do know who the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), a month later, recommended to Ramaphosa for him to choose from.

For the two vacancies on the Constitutional Court, the JSC, drawing from 11 nominations garnered from the public nominating process, submitted the names of Judge Annali Basson, Judge Patricia Goliath, Judge Jody Kollapen,
Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane, Judge Stevan Arnold Majiedt and Judge Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi.

Majiedt and Tshiqi were ultimately appointed. Were they the choices of the ANC’s deployment committee?

For the post of deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, the JSC nominated Judge Xola Petse.

His name was the only name that Ramaphosa had, as is prerogative, submitted to the JSC for consideration. Was he also the choice of the ANC deployment committee?

It is difficult, without access to the records, to match the choices of the committee with the recommendations of the JSC. If they do coincide, it seriously damages the credibility of a constitutional process meant to ensure impartial judges, unburdened by political debt.

The judiciary is at a delicately poised moment. A new chief justice must be appointed and four other positions on the Constitutional Court bench are potentially vacant this year.

If the JSC is a subcommittee of the ANC’s deployment committee, now is the moment to rectify matters.