The ANC has filed an application for leave to appeal against a judgment in the Johannesburg High Court that found its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, and party official, Thapelo Masilela, guilty of contempt of court for unlawfully withholding records about the ruling party’s cadre deployment committee.
Earlier, the DA submitted a successful application to obtain the records of the ANC’s cadre deployment process. The records in question relate to the ANC’s national cadre deployment committee and date back to January 2013, when pres. Cyril Ramaphosa became the chairman of this committee.
Some of the records were handed over, but the DA argued that the ANC withheld several documents, especially those between 2013 and 2018 when Ramaphosa was in charge of cadre deployment.
The court subsequently found Mbalula and Masilela guilty of contempt of court, with the ANC’s application for leave to appeal now following this.
Leon Schreiber, DA MP and the party’s spokesperson on public service and administration, says the DA is taking note of the application.
“The ANC’s latest application for leave to appeal confirms the party is terrified of the consequences that will arise from the revelation of Ramaphosa’s personal complicity in cadre deployment corruption, a system which the Zondo Commission found ‘made state capture possible’,” says Schreiber.
Schreiber says the DA is not going to give up on the issue in any way, because it forms a fundamental part of the party’s efforts to “save South Africa”.
“Should the ANC continue to be in contempt of court when its latest appeal application fails, the DA will not hesitate to further escalate our war against cadre deployment by applying to send Mbalula and other ANC officials to prison for criminal contempt of the court,” says Schreiber.
