South African President Cyril Ramaphosa testifies before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg, South Africa, August 11, 2021 (Photo by Sumaya HISHAM/POOL/AFP)
As the clock nears 5pm on Monday, the ANC must hand over its records on the “cadre dispatch'' to the Democratic Alliance (DA), but the ruling party has slammed the main opposition party and MP Leon Schreiber, who submitted the bill. The record accuses both “gaslighting” and “deliberate misinformation.”
In a press statement, the ANC said it would hand over the records but that both the opposition and Shriver were “well aware” that the minutes of the five-year development committee could not be found.
In June 2021, the ANC told the Zondo Commission, which is investigating state capture, that despite an “exhaustive search” of the minutes of the National Deployment Commission, “the period from December 2012 to December 2017 was No documents were found regarding the period. This was when President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the committee.
“Dr. Leon Shriver and the DA's office are fully aware.” [of] These facts are true, but they have chosen to deliberately misrepresent, intimidate and raise false hopes about what the record may contain,” the ANC said in a statement on Monday.
Nevertheless, the party said it would “hand over all records discovered and provide an explanation for those that do not exist or cannot be found.”
It added that “precautionary measures” have been taken to comply with privacy laws “to protect the personal information of those who have not consented to its release”.
The ANC continues to insist that deployment by political parties is not unique to itself, reiterating that its cadre development policy and deployment strategy are “designed to advance the constitutional objective of change.”
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said in his state capture report that the ANC had the “right” to place “nationals” on the boards of state-owned enterprises, even if it was to the detriment of the organization and the country. He said he believed that.
It was also found that the Deployment Committee had made recommendations and stated priorities regarding educational institutions, judicial vacancies, local governments, and international organizations, among others.
Zondo said the deployment policy was unconstitutional and illegal, violated the Civil Service Act and several provisions of the Constitution, and served to enable state capture.
Mr Ramaphosa defended the practice. When he and ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe both appeared before the committee, they told Zondo that the committee had not decided on the appointment.
“It appears that the commission does not always simply make recommendations, but often actually instructs appointing authorities on who to appoint,” Zondo said in his findings.
The Constitutional Court last Monday dismissed the ANC's direct appeal application against a High Court order ordering documents on the decision of the executive deployment committee.
The ANC asked the prosecutor's office for an extension until Friday this week to compile the records, but the prosecutor's office refused. “They've known about this for three years,” Schreiber said. email and guardian on monday.
He said the developed documents (“minutes, resumes, email threads, WhatsApp discussions and other relevant documents relating to the committee”) were sent electronically to the DA's legal team and were then “closely monitored”. He said the matter would be investigated.
In response to the ANC's statement, which said, “It would be regrettable if Dr. Shriver misused the noble provisions of the Constitution that guarantee the people the right to access information for narrow partisan political gain,” Mr. He said the provisions exist to serve the people. .
The Sublime Provisions also aim to “uncover the reasons for state capture” and the reasons for failures in service delivery, he added.
“If you read between the lines of that particular sentence, [the ANC] “While politically sensitive information should not be shared, it is clearly in the public interest.” He added that if the ANC hinted that records would be redacted, the DA would seek legal advice.
He said the first item in the minutes submitted to the Zondo committee was the adoption of past minutes, and there were clearly missing minutes.
The DA has publicly stated that it will apply to the court to hold the party in contempt if the ANC fails to comply with the Constitutional Court's ruling.
“We are proud of our executives who have achieved so much for South Africa and who are working side by side to drive change and social renewal in difficult socio-economic conditions,” the ANC said in a statement.