Did cadre deployment cripple SOE’s?

The ANC’s cadre deployment committee deliberately blocked and interfered with the appointment of CEOs for state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and South African Airways (SAA) because they were not their cadres.

This is what Leon Schreiber, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP), told the Independent Online. He said in minutes of a deployment committee meeting held at the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House, on the 10th floor in March 2018, records show that Eskom needed a CEO, and the deployment committee agreed to support the motion.

‘CADRE DEPLOYMENT CONTRIBUTED TO DOWNFALL OF SAA AND ESKOM’

“In both instances, the deployment of the CEOs was not ratified. The Democratic Alliance, which went all the way to the Constitutional Court to force the governing ANC to release the deployment records, said the committee had caused the delays in a bid to frustrate Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan,” he said.

Schreiber said the records reveal how the cadre deployment committee contributed to the downfall of SAA and Eskom. The records consist of meeting minutes, email correspondence, WhatsApp conversations, CVs, and ANC’s cadre deployment policies dating from 2018.

He said the records also showed that in November 2020, the deployment committee met again to discuss board appointments at both SAA and Eskom.

NOWHERE TO HIDE FOR THE ANC – SAYS DA

“The minutes further reveal that the Eskom Interim Board needed to be regularized and properly appointed within the existing rules of the state. The minutes show that the committee convened their meeting via Zoom call on November 30 to discuss the matter,” Schreiber said.

He said there was nowhere to hide and the ANC cannot play victims in the process that they have interfered with, especially after admitting on record.