Court ruling on party funding welcomed

THE My Vote Counts (MVC) group welcomed a court ruling yesterday that information about private funding for political parties and independent ward candidates is required for the reasonable exercise of the right to vote.

The MVC said the judgment, in its favour, was confirmation that the right to vote was the right to make an informed vote – and that party funding information was required to maintain the value of the right to vote.

The organisation had launched an application in the Cape Town High Court last month to force political parties to make funding information available to the public.

In the matter‚ the MVC argued that the disclosure provided the electorate with information on where political campaign money came from and how it was spent to aid voters in evaluating political parties and ward candidates.

The DA and the minister of justice had opposed the application.

Parliament and the DA would study the ruling, they said.

The high court declared the Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) was inconsistent with the constitution, insofar as it did not allow for the disclosure of private funding information.

The court suspended its order of invalidity for 18 months, to allow parliament to remedy the defects in the PAIA to allow for the disclosure of funding for parties and independent candidates.

The MVC said the judgment meant there must be a legislative mechanism that allowed access to this information.

The organisation said the process in parliament to repeal and replace the Represented Political Parties Act might produce that legislation – and it was following that process closely.

The Council of the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) also welcomed the judgment.

It said it confirmed that the principle of public access about a political party’s private sources of funding was an intrinsic part in exercising the right to vote.

Casac executive secretary Lawson Naidoo said while parliament’s ad hoc committee on party funding had issued a draft bill that seeks to regulate private and public funding of political parties for comment‚ he believed it was important for parliament to amend the PAIA to provide for the disclosure mechanism.

On Tuesday‚ the ad hoc committee invited the public to make comments on the Draft Political Parties Funding Bill of 2017, with the closing date for submissions on October 16.

The draft bill aims to provide the funding of political parties in the national and provincial legis- latures and to regulate the disclosure of donations accepted.

MVC coordinator Janine Ogle said the fact that the draft bill did not provide for the regulation of funding at the local government level was worrying.

“The great thing about the judgment is that it covers the funding of political parties and independent ward candidates,” she said.

“It is up to parliament to provide for the disclosure of this information.”

DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said Judge Yasmin Meer’s judgment left a question on whether it had not been overtaken by the established of the ad hoc committee.

The Draft Political Party Funding Bill (2017)‚ available on the parliament website, has been gazetted for public comment and is scheduled for public hearings on November 7 and 8.

The ad hoc committee has until November 30 to submit a report to parliament.

It is up to parliament to provide for the disclosure of this information