The National Assembly has approved a resolution empowering the president to draft regulations regarding the formula to be followed in funding political parties and independent candidates, including setting upper limits and disclosure limits of donations.
This comes after the Electoral Matters Amendment Act, which amends laws such as the Political Party Funding Act, came into effect this month. The amended electoral law requires the National Assembly to pass a resolution empowering the president to write the new regulations on party funding and sizes of donations that can be declared by parties represented in parliament, legislatures and councils.
Amendments to the Political Party Funding Act were meant to accommodate independent representatives who were previously not catered for in the allocation of funds as they did not participate in provincial and national elections.
The end product included proposed changes to the limits on party donations and thresholds for disclosure, which the ANC has previously complained about and blamed for its financial problems.
The bill is a crude attempt at directing more public and donor funds into the coffers of the ANC to help them cling on to power.
— Adrian Roos, DA MP
The amended law provides for regulation of private and public funding for political parties and independent representatives, and amends the powers of the president to make regulations on certain matters. These include upper limits and disclosure limits of donations and formulas for the allocation of money in the funds of proportionally represented parties on an equitable basis in terms of section 236 of the constitution.
But the motion to give President Cyril Ramaphosa powers to determine the funding and declarations mechanism for parties was rejected by some opposition parties, even though the matter was not debated.
Speaking during the debate to pass the bill in March, DA MP Adrian Roos said: “The bill is a crude attempt at directing more public and donor funds into the coffers of the ANC to help them cling on to power.
“The bill in its current form will change how party funding is allocated and create the possibility of a period where there will be no upper limit on party donations nor threshold for when a party must disclose a donation. These clauses have nothing to do with the inclusion of independent candidates.”
But according to Mosa Chabane, chair of the home affairs portfolio committee that drafted the bill, the proposed law has a built-in check and balance that will ensure that when the president makes a determination on annual upper limits of donations and the minimum threshold amount for disclosure, he does so once the National Assembly has passed a resolution to that effect.
“This decision reaffirms the National Assembly’s oversight role and enhances our democracy,” he said at the time.
Ten of the 14 parties represented in parliament petitioned Ramaphosa last month, urging him to not sign the bill into law, complaining that the proposed amendments went far beyond regulating and facilitating the inclusion of independent candidates in the electoral system.
During Thursday’s plenary session, they objected to the passing of the resolution.
The motion presented by ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina partly reads that the National Assembly acknowledges that when making the regulations in terms of the act, the president must take into account the following factors:
* the amount of money previously appropriated by acts of parliament for the political representatives' fund within the previous five financial years;
* the constraints on the fiscus in funding political parties, independent representatives or independent candidates;
* the number of political parties represented in parliament, including the potential number of independent representatives and independent candidates to be represented in the provincial legislatures and parliament;
* the effects of inflation on the value of money over time;
* the need to allow sufficient donations (which must be disclosed) to political parties, independent representatives and candidates to deepen participatory democracy;
* the actual fiscal contribution to public funding for political purposes; and
* the costs associated with participating as a political party, an independent representative or an independent candidate in elections and the democratic process in SA.
Majodina said the assembly recognises that the task of making regulations requires time, and therefore resolves that the president make regulations regarding the amounts on an urgent basis and should, within six months, table comprehensive draft regulations for consideration by the National Assembly, and for a resolution to be made in terms of the act.
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