The African National Congress (ANC) has been given two weeks to turn over all records from the deployment committee, which President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired for five years.
This follows the High Court of Johannesburg’s decision in favour of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in their contempt order application.
The party filed the application after the ANC failed to turn over all of the deployment committee’s records.
Leon Schreiber, the DA’s spokesperson on public service and administration, expressed satisfaction with the court decision issued on Wednesday.
He claimed the ANC ignored a Constitutional Court order issued earlier this year directing it to turn over all deployment committee records while Ramaphosa was chairing it.
The ANC was found guilty of contempt of court for failing to hand over the records as ordered by the court.
“On March 4, 2024, the DA filed an urgent application with the court after the ANC unlawfully redacted, destroyed, and withheld records from its cadre deployment committee dating back to January 1, 2013, when Cyril Ramaphosa became chairman.
“The court today agreed with the DA that this behaviour by the ANC, in violation of a court order upheld by the Constitutional Court, amounts to ‘wilful’ and ‘male fide’ contempt of court,”
The ANC and the DA have engaged in a public spat over cadre deployment.
The official opposition has accused the ANC of destroying the economy and state-owned entities by implementing this policy.
However, Ramaphosa and senior party officials have defended cadre deployment, claiming that the DA uses it in the Western Cape and other municipalities.
Bongani Baloyi, a former DA mayor in Midvaal, also claimed that the DA’s Federal Executive was involved in the deployment of officials to senior positions.
The official opposition denied this.
However, the ANC has called on the DA to release its own cadre deployment records.
The ruling party has stated that this policy was not unique to South Africa.