By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
After a three-year court battle, the African National Congress (ANC) was compelled on Monday to release over 1,300 documents revealing details of actions taken by its three-decade-old cadre deployment system overseen by a communist-style central committee.
What has been shown through the conversations is that the process of appointment was sometimes as simple as suggesting a name and sometimes influenced by service to the party – which has raised questions about the fairness of the recruitment process.
According to the ruling party, there are no records of any documentation or social media activity related to the deployment committee from January 2013 to May 2018, with the majority of the names being redacted.
Once candidates were recommended, a list was composed for the committee, the ANC’s secretary-general, the responsible minister of the hiring department and, at times, Parliament’s approval.
However, the Commission in State Capture stated that the ultimate power may have laid within the committee.
The commission said that “the fact that Ministers seek to convince the Committee, and go through such lengths to do so, implies however that the true and ultimate decision-making power lies with the Committee itself… [which] illustrates a situation where the minister makes a recommendation to the Committee, who has the final say in approving or rejecting a candidate.”
The documents also reveal that there was apparent anger when the committee’s recommended candidates were not selected.
One of the WhatsApp messages shows that a committee member expressed frustration when their preferred candidate was not appointed to the board of Prasa.
The sender (whose name is redacted) assured that the mistake would be fixed in the next board selection and that there would be better coordination going forward.
The ANC has fiercely stood by its policy of cadre deployment, saying that it “cannot be faulted in principle” and is common practice around the world.
Dismissing the DA plea to declare the cadre deployment policy unconstitutional, Pretoria’s high court lashed out at the official opposition party for coming to court with a case “built on speculation and conjecture.”
In the 40-page judgment, Gauteng High Court deputy judge-president Aubrey Phago Ledwaba said that the ANC, like any other political party, “is entitled to influence government decisions, including the appointment of senior staff to public administration, as long as the bright line between state and party is observed”.
Cadre deployment as an ANC policy is used for two purposes. The first is to appoint its members to key public positions. The second is internally in the ANC, for members who move from one position to another.
In the past, it used to be an honour for a member to claim that he or she was deployed as a cadre.
That’s because it suggested that the member is disciplined, obeys the ANC’s instructions and is not motivated by personal interests.
Over the last two decades, the policy has increasingly come under attack for justifying the appointment of key people who are not necessarily qualified for their positions, and who even act in their own interests.
Even in the case of qualified persons, their appointments happened under the cloud of privileged treatment and not a level playing field.
Cadre deployment has also become contentious within the ANC itself because of growing factionalism. This practice influences who are appointed as cabinet ministers and senior managers of state-owned enterprises and the public service.