Cape Town - The office of the ANC treasurer-general has decried the Political Party Funding Act as constraining and called for the new legislation to be amended.
Addressing a My Vote Counts webinar on behalf of party Treasurer Paul Mashatile, who cancelled at the last minute, ANC Progressive Business Forum (PBF) convener Sipho Mbele said the new act has suffocated them in the funding space.
The PBF is housed in Mashatile’s office and is entrusted with sourcing funds for the party. It is known for charging business people more than R100 000 for a few minutes with a minister or the president in ANC gala dinners.
He said the funding was needed “for constituency work”.
The Political Party Funding Act, effective from April 1, 2021, regulates money and politics.
Mbele’s bone of contention is that individuals donating more than R15 million annually to any political party have to be declared, though some donors prefer anonymity.
“While we must embrace the new legislation because it allows for multiparty democracy funding, it also created some constraints across the board. If you look at the threshold that has been given to political parties, it limits those political parties from exercising their work,” Mbele said.
“There are limitations to the threshold. There is a need for an amendment into the legislation so that we allow political parties to widen their net in terms of sources of donors.”
Party funding researcher Robyn Pasensie said ordinary people should have an opportunity in how they are governed.
“The money that exists in politics should really be for the purpose of democracy to give effect to the idea (that ‘people shall govern’),” Pasensie said.
Citing a 2021 Barometer, she said trust in democratic institutions was dipping significantly. The poll said only 38% trust the president, 27% trust in Parliament, 43% have faith in courts and only 46% registered to vote.
“This is a damning look at where we stand with our democracy,” Pasensie said.
She said research shows a “toxic relationship” between money and politics and that this breeds corruption. Pasensie said not all parties have made disclosures. She said the act’s threshold can be undermined.
She said in one instance, My Vote Counts found that the ANC had three donors donating R45m, adding that this trend was common across all parties. In a recent AmaBhungane v President Constitutional Court case on party political funding, Judge Steven Majiedt premised his judgment by saying: “Politics and money make disquieting bedfellows.”