The Democratic Alliance (DA) will continue to oppose the practice of cadre deployment in Gamagara municipality, where the EFF speaker’s attempted manipulation of a virtual council meeting sought to secure a director post for a connected candidate.
During Monday’s virtual council meeting, the Speaker quickly disappeared from the meeting after there was not enough support for the ANC’s preferred candidate for the position of Director of Town Planning. The candidate was also not the top scoring candidate on the list.
While the Speaker later claimed to have been experiencing a flat laptop battery, when she returned to the meeting approximately 20 minutes later, it is widely suspected that she spent the time lobbying support from fellow ANC council members, who also remained silent during her temporary absence.
By the time the Speaker returned to the meeting, for which she consistently remained connected, the remainder of council had already appointed an interim speaker and put the appointment to a vote. Voting went in favour of the top-ranking candidate, who scored six votes against zero. In a further attempt to derail the outcome of the vote, the Speaker then kicked everyone off the meeting.
The DA considers the outcome of the meeting a victory in the fight for appointing fit for purpose candidates to senior management positions. Should the Speaker try to overturn the appointment, we will oppose this and recommend to the successful candidate that she takes legal action against the municipality.
Cadre deployment by the ANC-EFF faction is rife within Gamagara municipality. In 2023, ANC councillors purposefully staged a stay-away from a council meeting to prevent the appointment of a qualified director, who was not a preferred cadre, in a post that, at the time, was vacant for three years. In 2022, the DA also opposed the hiring of three former ANC councillors, whose appointments came at a direct cost to service delivery.
Cadre deployment by the ANC collapsed state institutions and the DA will fight to prevent a repeat of this in Gamagara municipality.