When the ANC adopted its cadre deployment policy at its Mafeking conference in 1997 the intention was ambitious — to dominate all crucial aspects of South African life, from the civil service to the judiciary, the media, academia, the police, the armed forces and parastatals such as the SABC, Eskom and Transnet. The lot. No sphere of society was to be left untouched or unaffected. Its mission was, as it put it, to transform society.
The choice of the word deployment is revealing. It is a term often used in the military, for sending troops into battle. It would suggest that the organisation saw the policy as an application of the same military tactics as in its previous struggle, but in a new terrain. And so armies of cadres were deployed across the length and breadth of society with the mission to infiltrate and change it. Or conquer it, if you will. And change it they did, not for the better, however. It’s left society worse off, and the ANC no better. In fact, the ANC’s most ambitious project has led to its own downfall.
The policy may have landed its cadres in lucrative government jobs, others have become filthy rich beyond their wildest imagination, but the organisation itself is gasping for breath. Power is the glue that holds it together. But that power is waning, as results of the elections show. Its most audacious policy has become its Achilles heel.
The net was going to be spread even wider to include the private sector. In the wilderness, the ANC had always railed against what it called the commanding heights of the economy, seen as an important cog of the apartheid system. The idea was, once in power, or bring it under state control. In a word nationalisation was its stated policy.
But the ANC didn’t shoot its way into power. Compromise had to be made at Codesa. Also, unlike in other newly-liberated countries, South Africa’s private sector was relatively substantial, and would not be easily cowed or corralled by a new elite still trying to find its feet in government. The deployment policy therefore allowed the ANC to eat the elephant one bite at a time, so to speak. Parastatals such as Transnet and Eskom form a critical part of the economy, and appointing trusted loyalists would not only change those entities but would have a huge impact on the behaviour of business generally. Also, only businesses that abided by employment equity laws, affirmative action or BEE, would qualify to bid for government contracts.
In an attempt to ingratiate themselves with the new regime, companies happily doled out huge amounts of shares to prominent ANC activists, turning those individuals into overnight millionaires, even billionaires. Our president is beneficiary of such largesse. Which is why people who worry that the ANC, or any other party for that matter, would turn the country into a socialist or communist state, should relax. It’s not going to happen. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. As Smuts Ngonyama once famously put it, they didn’t struggle to be poor. What influence such instant opulence has had on their political perspective is still hard to tell, though.
What is clear, however, is that in the process of creating its own gang of oligarchs, the country, with the prospect of a bright future not so long ago, has been set back a number of years, if not a generation. The civil service, teeming with deployees, is overstaffed, overpaid, generally uncaring and highly dysfunctional. It has become a sanctuary for an incompetent workforce. No wonder public sector unions have seen the biggest increase in membership. But the incompetence and lack of service delivery as a result have come back to haunt the ANC, amply illustrated by the outcome of the elections.
Critics of the policy have often concentrated on the adverse effect of its practical implementation, and correctly so. But it has also had a ripple effect throughout all sectors of society. It has muddied the waters. Some private businesses have sought to employ or appoint to their boards individuals for no reason other than the fact that they’re members of, or are closely associated with, the ruling party.
Although the Judicial Service Commission also consists of members of other parties, the ANC has set the tone and more or less succeeded in getting candidates of its liking appointed to the judiciary. Capable candidates have often been overlooked, either because they’re of a wrong colour or are perceived to be hostile to the status quo. The upshot can already be seen in the deterioration of standards in our legal system. We’re not getting our best minds onto the bench. An incompetent or fawning judiciary cannot by any means be deemed to be independent, or play its role as an impartial arbiter in a democracy.
Cadre deployment often gets conflated with transformation. But as the term suggests, cadre deployment is the deliberate and often targeted appointment of party loyalists to key positions of state to achieve strategic and partisan goals. One think-tank has aptly described it as a cadre employment policy. Transformation, on the other hand, is a genuine attempt to create a more inclusive society by bringing in groups — irrespective of their loyalties or the views they hold — that were previously locked out or ostracised.
Until recently the ANC had carte blanche to do as it pleased, appointing its one-eyed apparatchiks to crucial areas almost as a form of mind control. But its loss of untrammelled power and the advent of the government of national unity, which includes the policy’s bitterest critics, have diminished its options. The policy was already under sustained attack even before then. The Zondo commission, for instance, declared it unconstitutional in that it was discriminatory. In that sense it’s no different from apartheid: it separates people into insiders and outsiders, winner and losers.
The ANC has thus far successfully argued in court that cadre deployment was not inconsistent with the constitution. But it is the court of public opinion that will ultimately have the final say.
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