The high court in Pretoria will on Monday and Tuesday hear an application by the DA to have the ANC’s controversial cadre deployment policy declared unlawful and unconstitutional.
The official opposition party has long advocated for the abolishment of the policy, which it says is at the centre of the weakening of state institutions through the deployment of cadres who often lack the requisite skills and experience to run government agencies, enterprises and departments.
The DA maintains that through the policy the ANC illegally interferes in the appointment processes to ensure its cadres are appointed on the basis of their loyalty to the governing party, rather than merit and skill.
The policy, which the DA wants replaced with merit-based appointments throughout the public sector, has been used by the ANC to help fast track transformation and to better implement its policies in government. However, it has been blamed for a series of service delivery failures.
In the final part of the state capture commission report released in June 2022, commission chair and chief justice Raymond Zondo declared the policy unconstitutional and illegal.
This after it came under much criticism at the state capture commission, with evidence leaders suggesting it is one of the foundations of corruption and inefficiency in the government and SOEs.
The criticism has not stopped senior ANC leaders such as Gwede Mantashe from rallying behind the policy. The ANC chair and mineral resources & energy minister told a party conference in the Eastern Cape last year that the policy boasted a “65% success rate”.
ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa told the commission in 2021 that the deployment of cadres to strategic positions was not unique to the ANC. “It is practised in various forms and through various mechanisms — even if not always acknowledged as such — by other political parties in SA and in other countries,” the president said.
Qualified individuals
“In our view, cadre deployment has acquired such prominence in part because of the perspective that there should be no political interference in the selection of people who work in the public sector. However, international practice suggests a more nuanced approach to this matter.”
In October 2022, acting public service & administration minister Thulas Nxesi told a media briefing cabinet had approved the “national framework towards the implementation of the professionalisation of the public sector”. The document states that only qualified and competent individuals should be appointed into positions of authority.
The framework is aimed at achieving effective planning, performance management and appraisal systems. These include performance standards and assessment instruments for different categories of employees.
The framework also addresses the effective recruitment and selection processes informing “meritocratic appointments at middle and senior management levels”.
It states that “deployment practices ought to be ditched in favour of a merit-based recruitment and selection system, which [is] key to building a capable, ethical and developmental state”.
The ANC is opposing the DA’s court application.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.