Who is funding your party’s campaign?

OUR politics is contaminated by dirty money linked to dodgy operators, unscrupulous contractors and dishonest officials in state-owned enterprises diverting money to a political party.

When no questions are asked and dirty money is greedily accepted to conduct election campaigns, people in politics and people in the money world have one another’s back. The bond thus established undermines the rule of law and the constitution.

When glitzy posters and fancy billboards proliferate wherever vantage points exist, the question to ask is: Who is paying for them, and why?

Some of the following have allegedly secretly supported election campaigns: Adriano Mazzotti, Hitachi Power Africa, Atul Gupta, Sandi Majali, Gaston Savoi, Petro SA, Nathan Kirsh, Jurgen Harksen and Brett Kebble, among others.

In June last year, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng noted in his landmark judgment: “The reality is that private funders do not just thoughtlessly throw their resources around. They do so for a reason and quite strategically. Some pour in their resources because the policies of a particular party or independent candidate resonates with their world outlook or ideology.

“Others will do so hoping to influence the policy direction of those they support to advance personal or sectional interests.”

He also gave recognition to the fact that “money is the tool they use to secure special favours or selfishly manipulate those who are required to serve and treat all citizens equally”.

The posters that will soon be crowding electricity poles will, in many instances, come with a “payback-time” nod and a wink.

The ANC and the DA spent over R350 million each in the last local government election.

How many billions will they be spending this time and where will the money be coming from? These are important questions.