DA wants Mbalula imprisoned over failure to produce cadre deployment records

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced its intention to approach the courts seeking an order of contempt and the committal to prison of African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.

This move follows the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) dismissal, with costs, of the ANC’s application for leave to appeal a previous ruling by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. The High Court had ordered the ANC to provide the DA with its cadre deployment records.

The court’s September ruling cited “no reasonable prospects of success” for the ANC’s appeal.

Despite the ANC’s initial indication that it would approach the Constitutional Court as a final resort for an appeal, the DA claims that the ANC has failed to meet the 15-day deadline imposed by the court.

Analysis of DA, ANC court battle over cadre deployment policy

Leon Schreiber, a representative of the Democratic Alliance says, “The DA can reveal that the ANC is in contempt of court over an order issued by the Supreme Court of Appeal which compelled the ANC to make public its cadre deployment records.”

Schreiber further argued that since the ANC’s appeal at the SCA was filed in Mbalula’s name, he is also liable for contempt of court, akin to former President Jacob Zuma’s case. The DA intends to use the same legal precedent established in the Zuma case to seek Mbalula’s imprisonment.

The court’s September order had mandated that the ANC must provide the DA with the complete records of its cadre deployment during the period when President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the party. The ANC was given a five-day deadline to comply with the order.

Reaction to court’s decision on ANC’s cadre deployment records