The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, has found the ANC and its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, guilty of contempt of court for its failure to submit its full cadre deployment records to the DA.
The DA approached the court after the ANC withheld records of its cadre deployment committee dating back to January 2013, when Cyril Ramaphosa became its chairman.
The case was brought by the DA last year, with its MP, Dr Leon Schreiber, welcoming the ruling that was handed down on Wednesday morning.
Schreiber said the ruling confirms beyond all doubt that the ANC is a lawless criminal syndicate that is prepared to trigger a constitutional crisis to hide the fact that its corrupt cadre deployment committee is the root cause of state capture, corruption and service delivery failure.
The DA approached the court on an urgent basis on March 4 after the ANC allegedly “unlawfully redacted, destroyed and withheld” records of its cadre deployment committee dating back to January 1, 2013.
The court consequently declared that the ANC is in breach of an order that was affirmed by the Constitutional Court. The court ordered the ANC to pay the DA’s full costs for the application, and to, within 15 days, give effect to the original court order.
The DA said it is not satisfied with some of the documents that the ANC has declared as they have been redacted beyond recognition and serve no use.
“We believe that what the ANC has done is in extreme bad faith. If you look at the records they have handed over, more than half of it is redacted beyond any real practical use. Such redactions were not permitted, so already there, the ANC has not complied,“ said Schreiber.
The DA says it wants full access to email, WhatsApp, social media communication as well as copies of all attachments to emails, WhatsApp and other social media communications through a neutral third-party information technology expert.
The party also wants the hard drive and laptop of ANC official Thapelo Masilela; his personal email and the laptop of ANC official Lungi Mtshali.
The Star