The African National Congress (ANC) reiterated its position that cadre deployment is a globally accepted practice and said it will not offer further comment on the “theatrics” of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its Multi-Part Charter partners.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party noted the “cynical and hypocritical distortion” of the cadre deployment narrative by the DA and opposition parties who, Bhengu-Motsiri said, were “bristling with their characteristic political opportunism and adventurism”.

On Tuesday, the DA announced that it would be submitting a fresh Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to obtain the ANC’s outstanding cadre deployment meeting minutes, a list of decisions, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs, and all other documents relevant to the work of all regional and provincial cadre deployment committees dating back to January 2013.

This was the period when President Cyril Ramaphosa was the chairperson of the ANC national deployment committee.

The DA gave the ANC 30 days to comply with its PAIA application, which the opposition party said was based on the same rationale that led to its Constitutional Court victory.

DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration Dr Leon Schreiber said that should the ANC fail to comply with the PAIA application by the 30-day deadline, the DA would take the matter to court.

“The ANC notes that some media organisations have chosen to overlook the public statements made by prominent members of the DA, both past and present, where they admit their involvement in the DA’s own form of cadre deployment,” said Bhengu-Motsiri