Funding Act welcomed

Political experts believe the Political Party Funding Act, signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday, is a fundamental step for democracy.

Political analyst Daniel Silke said: “This is great for South Africa, but not so great for the political parties themselves. It makes life difficult for them as they won’t be able to raise enough funding because some donors would prefer not to be associated with political parties.”

However, funders often had a way to obscure their donations and voters should guard against that and scrutinise them for credibility.

“On paper this is an important step. It encourages a great degree of transparency and accountability within the political party set up in South Africa. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” Silke said.

Another analyst, Sanusha Naidu, cautioned against the possibility of the use of elicit money to fund parties such as cigarette magnates, druglords and gangsters. She said some of the political parties could fall on their swords on that score and this needed to be scrutinised carefully.

Most of the opposition parties and the ANC welcomed the signing of the Act by Ramaphosa yesterday as it paved the way for voters to know how the parties were being funded, how much and by whom.

The Freedom Front Plus leader, Dr Pieter Groenewald, said his party welcomed the signing of the Act, adding his party played a leading role in bringing the legislation into effect.

“The amendments were necessary to promote transparency with regard to the funding of political parties; particularly because donations from unknown sources offered a breeding ground for corruption,” he said.

“Voters have the right to know who gives how much money to the ruling party as bribes to obtain government tenders can be disguised as innocent donations.”

In terms of the Act, no member of a political party may receive donation other than for political party purposes.