Steenhuisen dares ex-DA leaders to provide evidence of cadre deployment

DA leader, John Steenhuisen, has dared those who accused the party of practicing cadre deployment to come forward with evidence.

Various former party leaders, including Herman Mashaba, Bongani Baloyi and Mmusi Maimane, claim that the official opposition is hypocritical in its bid to have the ANC’s deployment policy declared unconstitutional.

Baloyi, who left the DA last year, was the first politician to put the blue party on blast, saying when he was mayor in Midvaal, the municipality could not conclude a senior staff appointment without the approval of the party’s governing and policy-making body, FEDEX.

Mashaba also didn’t waste time and jumped on the bandwagon claiming that senior DA leaders tried to get involved in the selection process of key appointments when he was Joburg Mayor.

In less than 24 hours of the revelations, DA Federal Chairperson Hellen Zille accused Maimane of introducing cadre deployment to the DA when he took over the party in 2015.

Maimane has, however, denied the allegations and claims that he expunged Zille’s ‘fit for purpose’ cadre deployment.

While the allegations against the DA grow thick, Steenhuisen maintains that they have not and will not practice cadre deployment.

“It is very clear from the processes we’ve had in the past that what we’ve done is safeguard processes to avoid cadre deployment from taking place.”

Steenhuisen has challenged the former leaders to release the names of the people who were put in positions as a result of the controversial policy that the official opposition believes it gave birth to state capture which saw state-owned entities crippled

“They too must implicate themselves in this matter, it’s no good to just allege that there are these secret minutes and secret committees of the DA.”

The official opposition has also announced that they will be lodging a contempt of court application against the ANC’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula.

This after the ANC allegedly failed to submit outstanding documents, including WhatsApp conversations, emails and CVs when submitting the requested documents of the controversial policy.

The DA’s Leon Schrieber says they will use the very precedent established in Zuma’s content of court case to send Mbalula to prison.

He says Mbalula has undermined the rights of South Africans to access the vital information contained in the ANC’s cadre deployment records that have now been made public.

While the party intensifies its fight against the policy, they’ve also made court submissions in line with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, in a bid to expose the records of existing provincial and regional ANC cadre deployment committees.

“In addition to the national ANC cadre deployment committee that captured, corrupted, and collapsed national government departments, state-owned enterprises, and other national institutions, the same racketeering syndicate is also implemented by the ANC at the provincial and municipal level to capture and control administrative appointments.”

The party is of the view that the collapse of provincial and local governments wherever the ANC is in power is not by accident.

The DA leaders were speaking at the unveiling of the party’s election poster earlier today.