We Reject the Appointment of ANC Loyalists to the IDC Board

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rejects the appointment of African National Congress (ANC) loyalists to the board of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), in a clear case of patronage. The most recent appointments, including Ayanda Dlodlo, Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube, and Dr Sydney Mufamadi, represent a continuation of a corrupt practice in which key state institutions are hijacked to reward political loyalty, not competence.

The IDC is a critical public finance institution, established to promote industrial development and economic transformation. Its mandate is to stimulate job creation, promote black industrialists, support localisation, and build inclusive economic growth. It is funded by public money and exists to serve the people, not the political elite. However, the ANC has repeatedly used the IDC and similar state-owned institutions as vehicles of looting, cadre deployment, and patronage.

We have not forgotten the scandals that have rocked the IDC, including the irregular funding of politically connected companies, the use of IDC loans to funnel money to failing businesses without due diligence, and cases of conflict of interest and insider deals by board members. The ANC’s capture of the IDC has long undermined the purpose of the entity and robbed young black people of the opportunity to access capital and grow real, productive, enterprises.

The latest appointments are part of this same pattern. Ayanda Dlodlo, a staunch ANC cadre, has served as Minister of State Security and Public Service and Administration; Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube, former ANC Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, oversaw one of the most corrupt and politically violent provinces in the country, and bears responsibility for enabling systemic looting through provincial structures; and Dr Sydney Mufamadi, a long-time ANC insider is deeply embedded in the old networks of the ANC’s establishment.

These individuals are career politicians and loyal servants of a party in decline, being rescued from political irrelevance by being placed in institutions that manage billions in public funds. This is not only a direct assault on the developmental future of South Africa, it is a spit in the face of unemployed youth, aspiring entrepreneurs, black industrialists, and innovators who are locked out of opportunity because the ANC prefers to reward its failures rather than empower its people.

This blatant politicisation of the IDC board mirrors the same undemocratic, patronagedriven appointments made to the so-called Panel of Eminent Persons for the exorbitant R700 million National Dialogue, which the EFF has rightly rejected. It also follows the same pattern we saw in the illegal appointment of SETA boards, many of which were filled with ANC-aligned cadres who had no qualifications or sectoral knowledge. Notably, Nomusa Dube-Ncube was one of the individuals slated for appointment to head the BANKSETA board, showing up now to another board selection as the ANC continues to unashamedly reward its loyalists by any means necessary.

The EFF has consistently called for the depoliticisation and professionalisation of strategic state-owned entities, including the IDC. These institutions must be run by people with proven experience in industrial policy, economic planning, and transformation. The capture of the IDC board is an attempt to maintain ANC control and to continue using public institutions as personal ATMs.

We, therefore, call for the immediate reversal of these appointments, for a full audit of the IDC’s board composition over the last decade, and also demand that the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition summon the Minister to explain the rationale for appointing individuals with proven connections to the ANC.

The EFF remains committed to building a truly developmental state, in which institutions like the IDC serve the people, not the connected few.

The EFF has participated in land occupations to highlight land reform issues.

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