THE Democratic Alliance (DA) wants ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to be jailed for contempt of court for failing to make public cadre deployment records.
The DA's shadow minister for public service and administration, Dr Leon Schreiber, said on Friday, 29 September that in response to the ANC’s defiance of court ruling, the DA is approaching the court for an order of contempt and seek Mbalula's committal to prison.
"Since the ANC’s doomed appeal to the SCA was filed under Mbalula’s name, he is guilty of the same offence of contempt of court that led to the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma," Schreiber said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on 4 September dismissed the ANC’s application to appeal against a High Court order forcing the ANC to make public its cadres' deployment records. The SCA found that "there is no reasonable prospect of success on appeal, and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard".
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Schreiber pointed out that the DA will use the precedent set in the Zuma case in its application for a prison sentence for Mbalula.
"It's time the ANC learns that there are consequences to undermining justice in South Africa, he said.
The Supreme Court ruling reinstated the deadline set by the High Court, in which ANC had five working days to hand over all cadre deployment records dating back to 1 January 2013, when President Cyril Ramaphosa took over as chair of the deployment committee.
The deadline for handing over cadre deployment records to DA was 8 September.
The ANC claimed it intended to appeal to the Constitutional Court, but failed to submit the documents within the prescribed time limit.
He said it was clear that the ANC had realised that an appeal to the Constitutional Court was doomed to fail.
“But DA will not allow ANC to get away with this latest attempt at Stalingrad tactics to undermine the cause of justice. The people of South Africa have an inalienable right to access the information contained in the ANC’s cadre deployment records, because these documents show how the party illegally interfered in public appointment processes to deploy the cadres who captured and corrupted the state under the chairmanship of Ramaphosa,” he said.
