Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has called on Public Service Commission (PSC) head Stan Sangweni to investigate allegations the African National Congress (ANC) is interfering in public-service appointments.
She had written on Monday to Sangweni following a report in a weekend newspaper that supporters of ANC president Jacob Zuma had attempted to remove certain senior provincial public servants and replace them with others sympathetic to the ruling-party leader.
”The report presents documentary evidence of attempts by Jacob Zuma’s supporters in Limpopo, Northern Cape and the Free State to remove certain senior public servants and appoint others on the basis of their political affiliation to Zuma,” she said in a statement.
The ANC believed it had the right to control all appointments in the public service on the basis of factional loyalty.
”It does not. The ANC’s policy of cadre deployment — often disguised by the fig leaf of affirmative action — is unconstitutional.
”The Constitution clearly states that it is the role of provincial governments — not political parties — to make appointments to the public service in provincial administrations.”
Evidence presented in the newspaper report ”would suggest that these constitutional provisions are being contravened all over the country”, Zille said. — Sapa