The African National Congress (ANC) has five days to hand over all records relating to its cadre deployment committee to the Democratic Alliance (DA), following a Constitutional Court (ConCourt) judgment handed down on Monday.

All records, going back to January 2013, encompass meeting minutes, CVs, emails, Whatsapp messages and other relevant documents, must be handed over.

The ANC lost its appeal in the ConCourt, cases in the Gauteng High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The DA called the ConCourt judgment “one of the great victories in South African legal and democratic history”, adding that cadre deployment was not a victimless crime.

With the records, the DA aims to show how the ANC interfered in public appointments and blocked the appointment of skilled applicants, in favour of deploying ANC cadres.

“The case is also of historic significance in the ongoing battle against State capture. The records are set to reveal, once and for all, that President Cyril Ramaphosa was personally involved in the State capture project in his capacity as cadre deployment chairman. The State Capture Commission has already confirmed that the ANC deployment committee was a key cog in the machine that corrupted and collapsed the public sector, because it was this committee that illegally intervened to ensure the appointment of the people who captured the State. Thanks to this ruling, the people of South African will finally get the opportunity to see the full scale of the ANC’s complicity in State capture,” the DA stated.

Meanwhile, the DA also has a case in the Gauteng High Court to have cadre deployment declared unconstitutional and unlawful.

It said the ConCourt judgment was in this instance a victory for the DA, which has argued that the ANC’s deployment committee actively influences sector appointments, unlawfully.

“We believe the Constitutional Court’s ruling is important in that context, because it confirms that the actions of the ANC cadre deployment committee directly affect the public,” it said.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party would study the judgment to ensure it is adhered to.

"The ANC has noted the judgement of the Constitutional Court on cadre deployment which is a practice not exclusive to the ANC both in South Africa and abroad," she said.