THERE'S no end in sight to the cadre deployment battle between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
In a recent development, the ANC has accused the DA of failing to be transparent by allegedly hiding its own cadre deployment records.
The ANC said it has made numerous requests to the DA under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) and other legal procedures, but the party has deliberately kept its deployment records regarding the Western Cape and the City of Tshwane under wraps.
ANC spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said in the spirit of openness and fairness, the party urges the DA to disclose its records for public scrutiny. The request comes after the ANC suffered another court defeat against the DA over the release of its cadre deployment records.
On Wednesday, 3 April, the Joburg High Court handed down a ruling where it found that the governing party and its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, are guilty of contempt of court.
The DA approached the court on an urgent basis on Thursday, 4 March, after it alleged that the ANC unlawfully deleted, destroyed, and withheld records of its cadre deployment committee dating back to 1 January 2013, when Cyril Ramaphosa became its chairman.
The court ruled in favour of the DA and found that the ANC is in violation of a court order upheld by the Constitutional Court.
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The court declared that the ANC is in breach of an order that was affirmed by the Constitutional Court and ordered the party to pay the DA’s full costs for the application, and to, within 15 days, give effect to the original court order.
In its ruling, the court condemned the ANC’s failure to disclose communications and records held by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After the ruling, the DA called on Ramaphosa to act in accordance with his position as president of South Africa in order to bring an end to this escalating constitutional crisis triggered by his party.
The party urged Ramaphosa to do this by abiding by the ruling and handing over to the DA all of his personal emails, WhatsApps and other communication revealing the role he personally played in state capture through his position as ANC cadre deployment chairperson.
DA’s Leon Schreiber said: “Once again, the clock is ticking on the ANC. It has 15 working days, until 24 April 2024, to hand overall, complete and unredacted cadre deployment records, including those held by Ramaphosa.”
“As we have done throughout our years-long battle to expose and defeat ANC cadre deployment, the DA reserves our rights to pursue further action against the constitutional delinquents masquerading as a governing party,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC is looking forward to the written judgment so as to review it and determine if there are grounds for an appeal.
