Abstract
Drawing on both legal and political sources, this article scrutinises the policy of cadre deployment that the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, has implemented, and continues to apply. The analysis begins by recalling and commenting on the only reported judgment in South African jurisprudence that dealt with the political influencing of municipalities' exercise of their public power to make appointments, namely, Mlokoti v Amathole District Municipality & another 2009 (6) SA 354 (ECD). What the Mlokoti case has confirmed is that the legal foundation for the exercise of public power is found in the Constitution and its enabling legislation, and not in party political policy, such as the ongoing practice of cadre deployment. In an investigation of cadre deployment, the article then demonstrates that this ANC policy, particularly judging by its stated purpose, is incompatible with the constitutional State and, instead, enables the rise of the shadow State. Unsurprisingly, therefore, political commentators increasingly observe that, apart from the revelations at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, State capture in South Africa in fact commenced when the ANC assumed political power in pursuit of the National Democratic Revolution. It is argued that the pursuit of a National Democratic Revolution in South Africa is directly at odds with the vision and goals of the 1994 constitutional pact. Convening a bipartisan national convention on philosophical and other approaches to the fight against corruption may offer a solution. Here, a starting point would be to reconsider the country's anti-corruption strategies to pay proper attention to the ethical causes of this scourge.
Highlights
South Africa is a multiparty constitutional democracy based on human dignity, equality and freedom
Drawing on both legal and political sources, this article scrutinises the policy of cadre deployment that the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, has implemented, and continues to apply
South Africa has come a long way since its democratisation
Summary
South Africa is a multiparty constitutional democracy based on human dignity, equality and freedom. Gardbaum meticulously records how the Constitutional Court (like most courts worldwide) has, over a number of years, held to the non-interventionist norm, but dramatically shed its initial reluctance to review legislative outcomes, and increasingly legislative processes.. Gardbaum meticulously records how the Constitutional Court (like most courts worldwide) has, over a number of years, held to the non-interventionist norm, but dramatically shed its initial reluctance to review legislative outcomes, and increasingly legislative processes.4 He states that “(s)ystemic weaknesses of executive political accountability that arises not merely from the existence but the abuse of dominant party status”, compelled the Constitutional Court to adopt a more interventionist approach in its jurisprudence. I will argue here that practices and policies such as cadre deployment have increasingly necessitated this shift by the Constitutional Court.
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