Taxpayers need poll transparency

One of the most interesting ironies of South African politics is that our major political parties, though they may have wide differences in ideologies and approaches to governance, all share a strange reluctance to discuss their internal finances. Attempts over the years to bring about more transparency when it comes to political party funding have largely come to nothing… despite some revelations earlier this year about a few of the donors to parties like the ANC and DA.

Now, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has put the funding question back on the agenda by pointing out, after detailed research it carried out, that the major funders of our politicians are us, the taxpayers.

Since 2009, taxpayers have paid almost R14 billion to the country’s political parties. This financial year alone, the budget is almost R1.5 billion.

While we can expect some of it to be splurged in the run-up to the local government elections – via street posters, advertising and political rallies, not to mention cross-country travel by the leaders – there was an odd reluctance by the main parties in parliament – the ANC, DA and EFF – to respond to questions from Outa about how they spend their money.

Outa also revealed that provinces are funding political parties, despite national legislation which provides for this. Gauteng, for example, spends more on funding its political parties than it does on promoting tourism… something which at least might generate revenue.

It cannot be denied that state funding of political parties is not necessarily a bad thing: if politicians know they have money coming in, they might not feel the need to look for donations which require something in return.

Yet, we need to have more transparency around who gets what and, in a general way, whether the money is being spent for political or personal agendas.