DA calls for ‘Fit for Purpose’ Public Servants over Cadre Deployment

Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni
3 min readMar 3, 2021

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By Cllr Golden Maduana — DA Deputy Shadow MMC for Corporate and Shared Services in Ekurhuleni

Date: 3 March 2021

Release: Immediate

Type: Media Statement

Image Source: BusinessTech

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni has long been calling for ‘fit for purpose’ over cadre deployment in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE).

Residents, communities and businesses continue to suffer poor levels of service delivery, while politically connected members of the governing ANC and its coalition partners occupy critical posts, but fail to deliver.

It is for this exact reason that we, as the DA, voted against the recently approved Service Delivery Coordination HOD position. While we have been fighting for the filling of this vacant post because we believe that this position will drive overall optimization of the departmental value chain through effective strategic planning, directing and alignment of organization-wide service delivery. However, we do not agree with the proposed selection panel, which represents nothing but the guardian angels of ANC cadre deployment policy.

The DA has been requesting to be part of the selection panel to ensure democratic and due processes are followed, ensuring the best candidate will be selected, rather than the politically connected. The ANC and its coalition partners in CoE have a history of appointing connected cadres to top jobs in the city, only for these officials to be removed a few years later, due to corruption, mismanagement and the lack of qualifications — all exposed by the DA.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared that he is committed to ending the practice of poorly qualified individuals placed into positions of authority due to their political patronage. This means under the leadership of the Executive Mayor, Cllr Mzwandile Masina, he should heed the President’s call and stop hiring and promoting individuals into key posts, in which they are not suitable, nor qualified for. This could be achieved, by allowing the DA to be part of the selection panel process.

Currently, the system of job reservation sets aside powerful positions in the civil service, which are supposed to be staffed by skilled and non-political professionals, are set aside for ANC members who have proven themselves “loyal” to the party.

Cadre deployment robs the public service of desperately needed skills, because it locks out highly skilled professionals who are not members of the ANC from key positions. Unlike under the ANC, where the DA governs, we have always been proudly committed to appointing officials based on merit rather than politics. There is no cadre deployment policy or committee in the DA.

A shining example of good governance is the DA-run Western Cape, and the dozens of DA-run municipalities across the country, where public servants are appointed based on merit following open and transparent selection processes with the principle of the party and state. That is why the DA has become synonymous with capable and good governance.

But we are determined to do more to find ways of bringing good governance to places where the DA does not yet govern, like in the ANC-run CoE, where we always fought the irregular appointments to vacant senior managers’ posts, where the principles of fit for purpose are hugely compromised.

Despite the recent calls from President Cyril Ramaphosa to abolish the cadre deployment policy in an attempt to make public services more efficient, Mayor Masina and his committee disregarded the memo and continues to seemingly rather appoint senior managers based on their party affiliation.

The DA unashamedly puts the interests of residents first, this is the exact reason why the DA is calling for an inclusive selection panel that has the mandate of service delivery at its core, rather than political favours.

Cllr Golden Maduana

DA Shadow MMC for Corporate and Shared Services in Ekurhuleni

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Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni
Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni

Written by Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni

This is the Official Medium Page of the Democratic Alliance in the City of Ekurhuleni

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