Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo’s inquiry into state capture will be a catastrophic failure if it accedes to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s request that it make no recommendations on changing the party’s cadre deployment policy.
This policy — or the bastardised version that emerged during Jacob Zuma’s tenure — was a central theme when Ramaphosa gave evidence to the commission both in April and last week. Both Ramaphosa and Gwede Mantashe, now chair of the ANC after previously serving as secretary-general, defended the policy vigorously to the commission.
But the ANC deployment committee’s overarching power to make appointments — not merely issue recommendations, as Ramaphosa initially suggested — may just be unconstitutional.
To take a step back, the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007 — at which Zuma was elected party leader — resolved that the ANC is "the centre of power" and in so doing effectively corrupted the deployment policy. Even party insiders say this resolution implicitly elevates the ANC above the rule of law and the constitution.
It was at the party’s Mangaung conference five years later that this notion of the party and its members being above the law gained political legitimacy, through the consolidation of Zuma’s grip on the party. This was also the conference at which Ramaphosa was elected deputy president of the party — it is unclear whether he knew back then that his presence was merely intended to veil the frenzy of voracious looting that was about to unfold.
Some ANC leaders have publicly denounced the policy. Transnet board chair and long-time ANC activist Popo Molefe, in an interview with the SABC, said it was born out of noble intentions, but "later on, once some among us tasted power, they began to become greedy".
If the ANC is committed to renewal this represents an opportunity, but don’t hold your breath
"They began to corrupt the system of deployment so that it ceases to serve the nation but it begins to serve parochial interests of the greedy," he told the broadcaster. "They [ANC politicians] began to make young professionals believe that the only way they can make it in life is when they become skivvies … they become cronies to those who dispense power and largesse for them to get up the ladder. It didn’t end there, the policy began to affect governance … and … led to the capture of the state."
The current deeply divided ANC leadership is unlikely to address the detrimental impact of cadre deployment on the state, even though policy review documents prepared for the party’s much-postponed national general council meeting provide room for an overhaul of the policy.
One section of these documents, dealing with criteria for selecting party and government leaders, includes relatively radical proposals that could have a direct bearing on cadre deployment. This section admits to the "rapid deterioration" of the organisation and suggests that its leaders have to be prepared to take bold steps to arrest the party’s implosion, including declaring an "organisational state of emergency".
One far-reaching proposal asks if the ANC should "realign" its leadership policy "with the country’s constitution and its values, so that its implementation does not lead to the violation of the constitution resulting in litigation".
If the ANC is truly committed to renewal this represents an opportunity, but given Ramaphosa’s comments at the Zondo commission, don’t hold your breath. If the party fails to act voluntarily, it should be forced to do so, and a recommendation to this effect from Zondo would be critical in reducing the party’s ability to inflict further damage on the country.
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