By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched an urgent contempt order application against the African National Congress (ANC) after it did not provide it with all records of the deployment committee.
The application relates to the ongoing battle over the governing party’s cadre deployment records.
ANC was compelled by the Constitutional Court to hand over the records dating back to January 2013, when President Cyril Ramaphosa was the chairman of the committee.
The latest application seeks to declare that the ANC is in contempt and in breach of the order by the apex court.
The DA claims the ANC excluded specific minutes from the records, provided illegible information, and destroyed information held on laptops while the court process was underway.
The party’s Leon Schreiber said the application was filed on Monday.
“The ANC’s failure to comply with the court order amounts to an assault on the judiciary and the rule of law. By refusing to be bound by an order upheld by the Constitutional Court, the ANC risks triggering a full-blown constitutional crisis.
“The only way to avert this urgent risk to our constitutional order is for the DA’s application to succeed and officials involved in the destruction of information to be held personally accountable.”
Schreiber said they want the ANC to hand over laptops and hard drives to an independent IT expert to determine if any records were removed.
The DA and the ANC have been accusing each other of cadre deployment after Ramaphosa called for the DA to hand over its records of cadre deployment.
Former DA mayor in Midvaal Bongani Baloyi said a few weeks ago that the DA practised cadre deployment and the Federal Executive was involved.
But this was denied by DA leader John Steenhuisen who said where the party governs people were appointed on merit, not loyalty to the party.