The ANC has lost its last-ditch Constitutional Court application for leave to appeal a ruling that it must make public its cadre deployment records within five days.
In a short judgement released on Monday (12 February), the Court dismissed with costs the ANC’s application because “it is not in the interests of justice for leave to appeal to be granted.”
ANC loses cadre deployment bid
The governing party had moved to the apex court after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled that it must hand over the records to the Democratic Alliance (DA). The SCA upheld an earlier ruling by the Gauteng High Court.
In 2021, DA MP Leon Schreiber requested to access the records in terms of the Promotion to Access to Information Act (PAIA). He sought to view records dating back to 1 January 2013 when President Cyril Ramaphosa became chairperson of the ANC’s cadre deployment committee. However, he faced court resistance from the ANC.
In a statement on Monday, Schreiber said the governing party has now “run out of road and must now expose the secrets it was so desperate to hide.” He added, “In terms of the judgment, the ANC now has five working days to hand over to the DA all meeting minutes, CVs, email threads, WhatsApp discussions and other relevant documents relating to the cadre deployment committee, dating back more than a decade.”
Schreiber claimed the ruling will force the ANC “to reveal exactly how Ramaphosa’s cadre deployment committee laid the foundation for state capture by interfering in public appointment processes.”
In a court affidavit during litigation on the matter, Ramaphosa maintained that cadre deployment was “consistent with international trends around the world and ought not to be viewed as inherently improper and unconstitutional.” He also noted that the State Capture Commission “did not find that all appointments made utilising the cadre deployment policy were a function of state capture or corruption.”
Ramaphosa also echoed the Commission’s comment that certain politically motivated appointments may have been made independently of the cadre deployment committee.
The ANC said on Monday that it is studying the Constitutional Court ruling.