DA is hardly the party to lecture on party funding
With a national election around the corner, high jinks are to be expected as politicians and their parties jostle for influence in the public space.
Unfortunately, this is taking place in an era of alternative facts — outright lies that give the illusion of truth because they are presented in a voice that conveys “authority”.
The DA’s continued attempts to weave a web of scandal around the matter of a donation from the CEO of African Global Operations [formerly Bosasa] to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election campaign represents a valiant but nevertheless sad attempt to peddle alternative facts. Despite the president presenting the facts to parliament, the DA continues to flog the issue to the media in the vain hope of turning it into an election “issue”.
The hypocrisy of the DA in condemning ANC politicians for their associations with the controversial Gupta family when the party acknowledged in 2013 that it had received donations from an associate of the same family is lamentable.
In a similar vein, the confidence with which the EFF is circulating outright false information about the minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, evidences remarkable chutzpah for a political party mired in scandal.
In a vibrant democracy such as ours, where every action of a political party is held up to scrutiny by a robust media and active civil society, the matter of political party funding is of national importance.
It should not be forgotten that it was the ANC government that in 2017 called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to look into the substantive issues around the private and public funding of political parties.
It was not the political opposition, who have been opaque when it comes to disclosing the sources of their funding. It is not lost on the voting public that in a 2017 application brought by My Vote Counts for political party funding to be disclosed, the DA said this should be an obligation only if it is “relevant”.
The same DA that is grandstanding now told the court that there were “types” of private funding information that were “almost certainly not required”.
In contrast to the coyness opposition parties display when it comes to their own campaign financing,
President Ramaphosa’s disclosure of a campaign donation to parliament is unprecedented, as has been his campaign management team’s undertaking to do a full audit of donations.
The Political Party
Funding Bill is currently being considered by the president, as are its modalities, given the financial obligations its provisions place on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Resolutions passed at both the 53rd and 54th national conferences of the ANC around not just funding of the party, but the funding of the campaigns of candidates for party positions, point to an organisation committed to the principles of transparency.
In line with the organisation’s drive towards renewal, the need for there to be greater transparency around internal campaigning has been prioritised, and should be welcomed.
Political parties need financing in order to operate — and that they should be proportionately funded by the IEC in order to level the playing field is one of the reasons the Political
Party Funding Bill exists.
It is not public or private funding of political parties that poses a threat to our democracy. It is the nefarious system of chequebook politics — whereby elected officials can be bought or sold, or become beholden to external interests — that should not prevail.
It is President Ramaphosa who is leading from the front, and not hiding behind the façade of “necessary disclosure”.
Instead of peddling alternative facts or circulating blatant untruths in an attempt to besmirch the reputations of government leaders, the opposition and its elected representatives should occupy their time and energies on what really matters: ensuring our electoral system remains free and fair.
Ramaphosa’s disclosure of a campaign donation to parliament is without precedent