African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Fikile Mbalula has challenged the Democratic Alliance (DA) to share with South Africans its own minutes and records of deployment decisions and explain what policies underpin them.

On Wednesday, the ANC released its cadre deployment committee records on its website, which it said was done in the interest of transparency, accountability and informed public debate on cadre development and deployment.

This after the DA, following a recent court order that the ANC must furnish the opposition party with the records of the ANC's cadre deployment committee, released the records publicly on its own website.

Meanwhile, the High Court delivered its judgment on Wednesday in the DA’s long-standing battle to have the ANC’s cadre deployment policy declared unconstitutional and unlawful, dismissing the DA’s legal bid with costs.

Mbalula addressed the media on Thursday, saying that the narrative that the deployment of cadres was unconstitutional and unlawful had no basis in law, citing that the High Court “correctly” found that the DA failed to point to any Constitutional text that supported their claims.

“In other words, in pursuit of what kind of society and on whose behalf is the DA governing in the Western Cape and several municipalities? The ANC awaits the release of the DA records of deployment with bated breath,” said Mbalula.

He noted that the High Court verdict was straightforward: “There is nothing unconstitutional about a political party influencing the policy direction of a government, including the appointment of senior personnel to public service, so long as the public service is protected against being misused for partisan purposes…” he said.

He lashed out at the DA, saying it opposed transformation by launching an “ideological offensive” that he said had deliberately and systematically sought to fundamentally distort ANC cadre policy and deployment strategy.

He stated that the DA was “profoundly dishonest” and that it was misleading the public in presenting itself as a party that did not deploy its members into the public service to pursue its policy agenda.

Mbalula said there was no law preventing a private body, such as a political party, from discussing potential candidates for any position.

“What is wrong is where the prescribed legal processes are not followed in the appointment of individuals…” he added.

He explained that there was evidence in the City of Tshwane and in the Western Cape that the DA had been practising its own version of deployment of its leaders and members into positions of administration where the party governed.

This, he said included a parallel process in which the DA Federal Executive favoured candidates for employment in DA-led municipalities as described by Alan Winde in a submission to the Public Protector in 2021, in which he correctly argued that such internal rules and policies were “wide-spread [and] common”.

Meanwhile, Mbalula highlighted that at the Zondo Commission, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, made the point that there was nothing wrong with the cadre policy itself but there were known weaknesses in its application in instances where merit was not observed.

“It is the ANC’s view that the practice of cadre deployment should not be inconsistent with the principles of fairness, transparency and merit in the appointment of individuals in public entities. Cadre deployment cannot be faulted in principle; it is a common feature of democratic practice around the world,” explained Mbalula.

“It is our firm view as the ANC that a proper and full implementation of cadre policy as defined in our documents will help to speed up transformation and service delivery,” he added.