DA lodges Public Protector complaint against ANC cadre deployment committee

8 July 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) lodged a complaint with the Public Protector yesterday to investigate whether any senior government appointments made by members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet have been influenced by the cadre deployment committee of the African National Congress (ANC).

This action follows after a leaked memorandum from the office of the ANC Secretary-General revealed that the party has instructed members of cabinet that “no appointment should be taken to cabinet without passing through the [ANC] deployment committee first.” In addition to seemingly confirming that the ANC’s project of state capture continues unabated, the memorandum also revealed how ANC members are preferenced in appointment decisions. The document states that the office of deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, “should be informed of all posts prior to them being advertised.”

In our complaint, the DA has requested that the Public Protector investigate whether:

Any member of cabinet has received the cadre deployment memorandum, or any other substantively similar instructions from the ANC;

Whether any member of cabinet who received such instructions reported this attempt to capture and subvert the state’s appointment process in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004 or other applicable legislation, and whether any failure to report the attempt to capture the state through cadre deployment was a criminal offence; and

Whether any member of cabinet has ever complied with any of the instructions contained in this memorandum, or in any other cadre deployment instruction issued by the ANC.

The Public Protector complaint is part of the DA’s effort to intensify the fight against ANC state capture, which is only possible because of the system of cadre deployment. We have also referred the leaked cadre deployment memorandum to the Zondo Commission, along with an urgent request that the commission formally investigate the role played by the cadre deployment committee in facilitating state capture and corruption. Such investigation should include the summoning of the former and current chairpersons of the ANC deployment committee – President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza.

The DA urges both the Public Protector and the Zondo Commission to investigate the latest revelations about cadre deployment with the necessary vigour, since state capture, corruption and state collapse will only end once cadre deployment is eradicated and replaced by a fair, non-political and merit-based appointment system throughout the public sector.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, 8 July 2020