CAPE TOWN - The African National Congress (ANC) has been slapped with a cost order by the High Court in Joburg, for delaying a matter in which the Democratic Alliance (DA) is challenging its cadre deployment policy.
The ANC wasn't ready to proceed with the case on Wednesday, after failing to file heads of argument for over 11 months.
It informed the court that this was because it had changed lawyers on Friday.
Judge Fiona Dippenaar said that it appeared that the ANC was intentionally drawing out the case.
She ordered the party pay the DA’s legal bill for the wasted time.
The DA wants the ANC to hand over all communication, including emails and phone messages, related to decisions taken by the ANC’s deployment committee when it was chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa between 2013 and 2018.
The DA’s Leon Schreiber said that his party would not relent in this pursuit.
"In January 2023, the DA will be back in court for our second case against ANC cadre deployment, where we are asking a full bench of the North Gauteng High Court to declare this system unconstitutional and unlawful. The DA is waging this war against cadre deployment because we care about the rights of South Africans to receive honest and quality services."
The ANC has been given 10 days to file the necessary paperwork or lose its right to reply.
