PARTIES FACE FUNDS DROUGHT
The funding of SA’s still-young democracy is to come into sharp focus this month. The Political Party Funding Act, which tightens the rules around sums of money given to such parties, is now in effect, and the timing could hardly be worse for them.
Local government elections on October 27 are expected to be tough — and to run effective campaigns, parties will require financial resources. While parties have had ample time to prepare for the implementation of the legislation, many remain on the back foot. News broke last year of possible retrenchments at the DA’s headquarters and the ANC is set to do the same.
While politicians are bemoaning the difficulties they will experience because of the act, it is critical to acknowledge that the implementation of the law will strengthen, safeguard and enrich SA’s democracy.
The act compels parties to reveal their donors — those who hand over amounts in excess of R100,000. It also bans foreign funding of parties as well as funding by state-owned enterprises.
It regulates how state funds are distributed between parties and introduces a “multiparty democracy fund” for funders who want to support democracy but do not want to be identified.
For the ANC, the task is set to be an incredibly difficult one. Over the past decade, funding for the party often originated from dodgy characters who corrupted politicians in a bid to further their own ends and enrich themselves.
A scary number of politicians were susceptible to such “businessmen”, who included the Guptas, Gavin Watson, Iqbal Survé (who famously made a R1m donation to the ANC in the Western Cape, and then had it returned) and Edwin Sodi.
Now, with the radical economic transformation faction of the ANC in disarray, many of these donors will be less likely to throw cash at the party, since the recipients of their “generosity” are potentially facing charges and very likely have been forced to step aside from their posts. Deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte has revealed that two leaders had stepped aside or been suspended at national level and this applied to more than 30 across the provinces.
She said at a media briefing on Tuesday: “We have a cash-flow problem because the funders we traditionally relied on have stepped back.”
The man in the ANC’s fundraising hot seat, Paul Mashatile, admits that it is going to be tough.
“We will abide by the legislation,” he says. “It will be challenging as some donors don’t want to be exposed … a big worry is that the impression will be created (once these donors are revealed) that they receive contracts, for instance, if they donate to the ANC.”
So what is to be done? Mashatile says he has consistently argued that the government should increase funding to political parties so that they don’t have to rely so heavily on private funding.
“In a democracy, the state should fund political parties,” he says.
But it’s a tough ask, given reports of crass corruption and malfeasance. It might not even be possible, given the state of government finances.
Still, it is likely that dodgy business people seeking to buy favour will find new ways of doing so.
It is a key challenge, and I dare say a test, for Mashatile — who is said to have presidential aspirations — to overcome, at least on behalf of the ANC.
He cannot rely on the mythical White Spiritual Boy Trust of his fellow former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale, nor on any crooked business mogul.
The solution for all parties is to do things the right way: embrace transparent funding and deliver on your promises, to increase your share of the vote and, in turn, your share of state funds.
Jessie Duarte has admitted that the donors the ANC traditionally relied on have stepped back