“Party funding not a voter concern”
Justice minister says public is worried about a whole host of issues
Voters need more than access to private funding information of political parties to make informed decisions on who to vote for
This is according to Justice Minister Michael Masutha’s advocate Thabani Masuku, who argued in the Constitutional Court yesterday that a “whole host” of other information was relevant for voters when they exercised their right to vote.
The Constitutional Court held a confirmation hearing of a Western Cape High Court judgment which directed the amendment of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to allow public access to political parties’ funding information.
The court bid was brought by nonprofit organisation My Vote Counts which had approached the court with an argument that failure to access information hindered voters from making an “informed decision” on who to vote for.
It argued that access to information about private funding of parties that contested the elections was crucial for citizens tomake an informed vote.
Masuku, however, said South Africa has had several successful elections in the past which happened in the absence of the obligation to disclose private funding to political parties.
Masuku said not every citizen who voted needed information on private funding of political parties to make what they perceived as an informed decision.
“A declaratory order [by the Constitutional Court] would only be necessary where there’s a constitutional ambiguity ... it’s not necessary to elevate private funding to a constitutional position to make it enjoy constitutional protection,” Masuku said.
Masuku said parliament was already engaged in another process that was looking into the issue of private funding for political parties.
He argued a confirmation order by the highest court in the land may “stall what’s happening” in parliament on the matter.
My Vote Counts’ legal representative Max du Plessis said the Constitutional Court needed to make a confirmatory order as government had been dealing with the issue of funding “since 1997”.
Du Plessis said the PAIA was coming short of achieving what it’s set out to as it only allowed access to information that had been recorded and kept.
“Whatever happened in the previous elections is simply irrelevant ... access to this information is crucial for the citizens to make an informed vote,” Du Plessis said.
The Western Cape High Court had given parliament 18 months to rectify the inconsistencies in the PAIA.
Judgment was reserved.