GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Cadre deployment and Cyril Ramaphosa’s game of mirrors

Few ideas are more misunderstood than the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment. Most people think power comes with patronage and deploying “your people” to key positions is part of the game. They are half right.

There are many positions in the public service — “political appointments” — that fit this bill: chiefs of staff, spokespeople, and so on. These are at the discretion of the principal and inherently political.