By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) has been given two weeks to hand over all records of the deployment committee, including when President Cyril Ramaphosa was chairing the committee for five years.
This follows the order of the High Court in Johannesburg which ruled in favour of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in their contempt order application.
The official opposition party brought the application after the ANC failed to hand over all the records of the deployment committee.
DA spokesperson on public service and administration, Leon Schreiber said they welcomed the court judgment that was delivered on Wednesday.
Schreiber claimed that the court agreed with them 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.
An access application to ANC deployment records was brought by Schreiber in 2021 in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
He said the ruling confirms beyond a doubt that the ANC is a “lawless criminal syndicate” that is willing to trigger a constitutional crisis.
“While the ANC is clearly prepared to go to any length to hide its dirty cadre deployment secrets and undermine the rule of law, there is fortunately no limit to the DA’s determination to uphold the rule of law and abolish cadre deployment corruption from the face of this country,” Schreiber said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The high court declared the ruling party in breach of an order that was affirmed by the Constitutional Court.
The court further ordered the ANC to pay the DA’s full costs for the application and to give effect to the original court within 15 days.
The court noted that “in particular, [the ANC] was obliged to disclose communication relating to the committee’s work by, and involving, Ramaphosa, who was the chairperson of the committee between 2013 and 2018.”
However, Ramaphosa and senior officials in the party have defended cadre deployment, saying the DA was using it where it governs in the Western Cape and other municipalities.