Ban on donations ‘would hurt party politics’
CAPE TOWN — A total ban on private donations to political parties could have a harmful effect on electoral politics, Human Sciences Research Council head of research Gary Pienaar said yesterday.
Over the years, organisations such as the Right2Know Campaign and My Vote Counts have called for parties to reveal their sources of funding, going so far as the Constitutional Court to try and force them to make disclosures.
Opposition parties are deeply reluctant to disclose who their private funders are, fearing that they will be victimised.
Mr Pienaar, briefing the media on a research project Money, Politics and Transparency conducted in 54 countries globally, said the study found that where restrictions had been made on contributions to political parties violations occurred more often than not.
“Many countries have laws regulating who may donate, how they can do so and how much may be spent during elections. In practice, however, those regulations are frequently violated — parties, candidates and their supporters find inventive ways to subvert existing legal frameworks, channelling money into campaigns, while bypassing oversight mechanisms.”
Removing the root of the problem was tempting, “but an outright ban could have unintended and even perverse effects on party politics”, he said.
“The African National Congress, by virtue of incumbency, receives the bulk of private donations, with much smaller amounts going to even the largest opposition parties. A ban could encourage a more equitable environment for smaller parties by ensuring the largest parties had less to spend on campaign activities and advertising. But a ban could undermine growth of more competitive electoral politics, a weakness in SA’s democracy,” Mr Pienaar said.
Right2Know’s Murray Hunter said there needed to be money in the political system, but the lack of transparency meant that secret deals could take place.