Cape Town — Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, has hit back at the claims made by Helen Zille that he had a part to play in the DA’s implementation of cadre deployment.
Maimane has responded to the allegations from Zille, the DA’s current federal council chairperson, that he implemented the policy during his time with the party.
“That policy was introduced with Mmusi. When I come back, we recognised it as cadre deployment and the policy was rescinded. That is the fact” Zille wrote on Twitter (now X) in 2022. The post has since been deleted.
In response, Maimane and BOSA released a statement rubbishing Zille’s claims that such a policy existed and she must find proof.
“There was no such a policy in the DA under Maimane. In fact, when he took office, Zille’s own cadre deployment policy – “fit for purpose” was expunged. That policy led to what appears to be a patronage network of DA persons and affiliates in the City of Cape Town and Western Cape,” the party said.
‼️Media Statement‼️
We challenge Helen Zille to release documents on DA’s own cadre deployment. pic.twitter.com/nvcA80w3VI
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) February 23, 2024
Maimane challenged Zille to release minutes of the party’s federal executive in which his alleged cadre deployment policy was done away with and to find any other minutes where he was alleged to have made such appointments.
He added that Zille should also produce minutes where some of her preferred contemporaries were favoured, including Ryan Coetzee, Penny Tainton and Time Harris.
According to The Citizen, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) go back and forth with each other over the cadre deployment policy.
The DA on Friday threatened to charge ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula with contempt of court. It said there was information missing in the files handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa was head of the cadre deployment committee during former President Jacob Zuma’s tenure.
DA leader, John Steenhuisen, said the ANC extensively redacted the documents despite not being entitled to do so by the court order. The DA announces it will appeal the High Court’s cadre deployment ruling that favoured the ANC after its application to declare the policy unconstitutional was dismissed with costs.
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Picture: Facebook/Mmusi Maimane
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
