The party’s reaction follows a recent controversial Facebook post.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to outline the party’s 2026 election strategy at its January 8 Statement at the Maruleng Stadium in North West on Saturday, with its rivals calling for it to address cadre deployment.
DA Member of Parliament (MP), Nico Pienaar, said his party was baffled by the alleged mushrooming of new ANC cadre deployment cases in municipalities in Limpopo and elsewhere in the country.
He said his party has written to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, requesting his urgent intervention in the matter.
The DA, Pienaar said, wants Hlabisa to urgently investigate the ANC’s conduct, which he claimed demonstrated clear political bias within ANC-controlled municipalities.
Pienaar said the ANC’s cadre deployment plan also raised serious concerns about the integrity of municipal recruitment processes across the country’s three spheres of government.
Cadre deployment celebrated
The party’s reaction follows a recent Facebook post, seen by The Citizen, in which the ANC Sekhukhune region in Limpopo publicly congratulated its own comrades on their appointments to two ANC-run councils.
The post set tongues wagging within political circles in Limpopo, with many questioning whether government posts are reserved only for ANC card-carrying members or the general public. The DA was the first to fire the salvo.
Pienaar said Ramaphosa must address the question of cadre deployment in his ANC January 8 Statement.
“Cadre deployment is an inherently corrupt practice and a primary driver of the collapse of state and municipal capacity where the ANC governs.
“It is unconstitutional and undermines the constitutional requirement that public administration must be professional, impartial, and merit-based.
“It is a primary driver of state failure, contributing to the ongoing collapse of municipalities under ANC control, and it is incompatible with good governance. It replaces competence and accountability with political loyalty,” Pienaar told The Citizen on Friday.
He added that cadre deployment was everywhere in the country.
“It is a thorny issue and must be addressed as a matter of life or death”
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A scourge across the country
He claimed the public celebration by the ANC in Sekhukhune merely confirms what communities across Limpopo already know: that government jobs are being reserved for ANC card-carrying members through blatant cadre deployment.
“This conduct, Pienaar said, amounts to a clear abuse of public institutions and a corruption of any credible recruitment process.
“It sends an unmistakable message to qualified professionals that if you are not a member of the ANC, you need not apply for a job in government. The DA can speak without fear or favour that, under ANC leadership, merit, skills, and experience are once more sacrificed on the altar of party loyalty.
Pienaar said the practice explained why municipalities across the country are collapsing.
“Appointments based on political allegiance rather than competence have left communities without reliable water, safe roads, or functional infrastructure. Cadre deployment does not serve residents, rather serve the ANC’s shrinking political interests.
“The DA remains unequivocal that public service positions must be filled on merit, and merit alone. South Africans deserve capable professionals who can deliver services, not politically connected cadres who preside over decline.”
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A warning to Ramaphosa
“Ramaphosa and his comrades must know that as local government elections approach, communities in the nine provinces of the country will have the opportunity to put an end to cadre deployment, corruption, and service delivery failure,” he said.
When approached by The Citizen, the ANC in the Sekhukhune region refused to comment on the matter.
Its spokesperson, Samuel Uwane, had earlier promised to comment, but later made a U-turn, stating his displeasure.
“I have consulted with my regional secretary, and we both felt we won’t dignify the DA’s unearthly claims with a comment,” he said before hanging up the phone.
Neither the Bolshevik political party nor the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) commented on the matter, despite ample opportunity to do so.
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