CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s bid for full disclosure from the African National Congress (ANC) on its cadre deployment failed to get out of the starting blocks on Wednesday, over a year since the case was first filed.
The High Court in Johannesburg took a dim view of the ANC being in contempt of court and not ready to proceed after a change of lawyers at the eleventh hour.
While granting the ANC more time to get its act together, judge Fiona Dippenaar said it was difficult not to form the impression that this was a deliberate delay tactic.
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The DA said their case is one of public interest and impacted a bill before Parliament, which sought to outlaw the ANC’s practice of cadre deployment.
The DA believes it's this practice that gave rise to corruption and state capture within the civil service.
The party said it hoped to argue the merits of its case on Wednesday, in which it wanted the ANC to disclose all its records from its cadre deployment committee after failed access to information attempts.
But the ANC was not ready to proceed, and the court heard it had failed to file heads of argument for the past eleven months.
The party said this was because its main deponent, late deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte, had since passed on.
It asked the court for a further six months to file the necessary arguments, but Dippenaar said there was no logical basis for this.
Instead, she ordered the ANC’s newly appointed lawyers to do so within 10 court days or have its defence in the main application struck out.
The matter has been postponed indefinitely.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Gwede Mantashe explains cadre deployment to Zondo commission
