Party funding law at last

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has finally signed into law a new bill aimed at regulating the funding of political parties. It was approved by Parliament in June last year.

The Political Party Funding Bill, when it eventually becomes law on April 1, will enable South Africans to know who funds their political parties.

The new law is long overdue. It is remarkable that the country didn’t regulate political party funding after the first democratic elections 25 years ago. The lack of action made South Africa unique among democracies for not regulating private political party funding.

Funding is crucial for the survival of political parties and their ability to campaign for elections. But this needs to be regulated because the electorate needs to know where funds are coming from. Countries that have introduced similar laws have done so to preserve their sovereignty as well as the integrity and autonomy of domestic politics.

Most countries have laws that encourage parties to disclose who their funders are. All 10 of the largest democracies in the world have disclosure laws. And the US bans foreign funding in elections.

South Africa’s law enshrines these basic principles but there’s concern around the timing of the bill as it won’t be operational before the country’s hotly-contested elections in May.

Getting the administrative mechanisms in place for its implementation is likely to take longer.

It’s hard to dismiss the suspicion that the scandal-ridden governing party, the ANC, wanted to delay the bill coming into effect to avoid having to disclose its funders before the poll.

For civil society activists who have struggled for transparency in party funding, the bill cannot come into effect soon enough. The hope is that the legal obligation to disclose political party funding will bring more integrity to the country’s politics.

The obligation to disclose funders should also make it easier for civil society to keep political parties on their toes when it comes to their finances.

The bill requires parties to disclose all donations over R100 000 from any one donor. It also prohibits donations from foreign governments or organs of state.

The bill also has provisions that specifically aim to curb corruption. For example, it states that “(a party may not accept a donation) that it knows or ought reasonably to have known, or suspected, originates from the proceeds of crime and must report that knowledge or suspicion to the Electoral Commission (IEC)”.

And it stipulates that “no person or entity may deliver a donation to a member of a political party other than for party political purposes” and that a member of a political party may only receive such a donation “on behalf of the party”.

Non-compliance with the new law can lead to a fine or a jail sentence of up to five years.

The bill provides for a multiparty democracy fund to be established and managed by the IEC to receive anonymous donations. These would then be distributed proportionately to parties represented in Parliament and in the provincial legislatures.

It’s not clear how successful it will be. Given donations to political parties are usually tied to promoting particular interests, it seems unlikely that donors will be rushing to give money to a fund that doesn’t represent their interests

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Swart, research director, Human Sciences Research Council.