DA’s legal bid to overturn the ANC’s cadre deployment policy has failed again, with the Pretoria High Court ruling that the opposition party’s arguments had no reasonable prospects of success.
Image: Elmond Jiyane, GCIS
ANC has welcomed the Pretoria High Court’s decision to dismiss the DA’s bid to appeal a ruling on its cadre deployment policy, calling it a blow to the DA's ”obsession with pursuing narrow-minded political games at the expense of genuine democratic progress.”
“The African National Congress welcomes the judgment of the High Court in Pretoria, which dismissed with clarity and conviction the Democratic Alliance's application for leave to appeal a ruling on the ANC's cadre deployment policy,” ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said.
She said the court once again found the DA’s case had no reasonable prospects of success, failed to identify any unconstitutional elements in the policy, and relied on speculative, unproven allegations.
“This judgment exposes the DA's ongoing abuse of the judiciary to score cheap political points instead of engaging in serious policy debates or offering real solutions to the challenges facing South Africans,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
The High Court in Pretoria dismissed the DA’s application for leave to appeal an earlier judgment that rejected the party’s request to declare the ANC’s cadre deployment policy unconstitutional.
The court ruled the DA’s application lacked reasonable prospects of success, a key criterion for granting leave to appeal.
Earlier this year, the DA argued before the court that the policy undermines service delivery.
However, the High Court found the party failed to meet the test for appeal, including whether the appeal had a reasonable prospect of success and whether there were compelling reasons to hear it.
“For all the reasons set out in this ruling, the application for leave to appeal must fail,” said Deputy Judge President Aubrey Phago Ledwaba.
“The application for leave to appeal is dismissed,” he said.
Ledwaba ordered the DA to pay the respondents’ legal costs, including the costs of five counsel representing the first to third respondents.
The court found the DA had failed to make a valid constitutional argument, and it did not identify specific unconstitutional aspects of the cadre deployment policy.
Instead, the party challenged the policy as a whole, asserting it did not need to specify particular provisions that conflicted with the Constitution.
The court also reportedly rejected the DA’s submitted evidence of alleged corruption linked to the policy, referring to it as “purported” and insufficient.
Bhengu-Motsiri said the DA’s consistent opposition to redress and transformation efforts is more concerning.
“While claiming to be ‘for the people,’ the DA's every legal challenge and policy position is aimed at defending the interests of the privileged few,” she said.
She described the court case as a deliberate attack on transformative measures, cloaked in legal arguments but driven by ideological resistance to change.
“The DA cannot claim to champion democracy and equality while undermining every attempt at meaningful transformation. Their actions continue to contradict their words,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
She added that South Africans deserve leadership that prioritises equity, redress and inclusive governance, not “political theatre dressed up as constitutional concern.”
“The ANC will continue to champion the interests of the majority, the working class, the poor, and the historically excluded, in alignment with the core ideals of the ANC and our manifesto commitments,” she said
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
IOL Politics