The ANC’s cadre deployment policy has hollowed out public institutions and left millions of South Africans at the mercy of corruption, mismanagement and ineptitude, and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s continued support of the policy demonstrates his loyalty to party cadres at the expense of citizens, according to the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
The IRR says in a statement that Ramaphosa’s Zondo Commission testimony suggests that the policy of cadre employment, which is arguably the primary obstacle to rooting out malfeasance and ineptitude at all levels of government, is likely to remain in place.
IRR CEO, Frans Cronje, notes that Ramaphosa was presented with an opportunity to acknowledge and place blame on the deployment committee for state capture. However, his comments at the Commission show that Ramaphosa is not truly committed to reform or sensitive to the plight of the ordinary citizen.
While the president dwelled at length on his claim that the party was going through a process of renewal that would put an end to corruption, he remained reluctant to elaborate on how the party intended to change course. He dismissed as rash former minister Barbara Hogan’s suggestion that the ANC should do away with its deployment committee as a safeguard against state capture.
The IRR statement said that, on the day of Ramaphosa’s Zondo Commission appearance, the Institute paid a visit to the Union Buildings ‘to ask when we could expect a reply to our memorandum to the Presidency on citizen abuse that had been promised within 14 days. The promise was made on 3 March and despite promptings, the Presidency has failed to respond.’
The president’s performance at the commission confirmed the IRR’s conviction that it was up to citizens and civil society organisations to speak up against citizen abuse and compel policy-makers ‘to heed mounting resistance to their disregard of South Africa’s real national interest, which is the freedom and well-being of its citizens’.