ANC slammed for wanting party funding threshold to be increased

The ANC’s proposed amendments to the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA) has not being well received by some civil society organisations.

The ANC wants the current R100,000 threshold to be increased to R250,000 or R500,000 per year.

The governing party has also proposed that the amount of R15 million that a single individual or entity can donate be increased to between R50 million and R100 million.

This comes after the ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC), in a report, argued that the Act has led to a reduction in the capacity of political parties to mobilise resources for their activities and election campaign.

‘Secrecy and nefarious influence’

While the ANC wants the threshold to be raised as one of the solutions to the party’s money problems, a coalition of civil society organisations is against the move.

My Vote Counts, the Right 2 Know Campaign, the Helen Suzman Foundation and other organisations have insisted that the ANC’s proposed amendments “are not in the interest of the people”.

“They are attempts to weaken our democracy and to allow our politics to be further beholden to private interests,” the organisations said in a joint statement.

The organisations said the proposal was “deeply concerning”, especially in light of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture’s report, which was made public earlier this month.

“This is despite the Zondo Commission showing how influence can be bought with as little as R100,000 and below. 

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“They also want the upper-limit a single donor can donate to a party per year to be increased from R15 million to R50 million – R100 million, or just be scrapped entirely. This would allow private capital to wield an absurd amount of influence over parties,” the organisations said.

“Further, they want the Act to exclude dividends and investments of political parties. Thus, donations from investment arms such as Chancellor House (which donated R15m to the ANC in the previous quarter) will not need to be disclosed,” they added.

According to civil society, the ANC’s proposed amendments will create further opportunities for secrecy and nefarious influence in South Africa’s politics, saying the current thresholds were “the lifeblood of the legislation and to remove it is to repeal the law”.

Last year, My Vote Counts communications manager, Sheilan Clarke, told Power987 that the funding threshold should decrease to R10,000 instead.

In the 874-page state capture report, the commission’s chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, expressed concern over the link between political party financing and the corrupt granting of tenders.

Zondo suggested that the ANC benefitted from proceeds of corruption via donations.

He cited evidence heard at the commission as example, which revealed that Bosasa – among other businesses that scored tenders irregularly from government – made donations to the ANC.

Salaries

The ANC has repeatedly blamed the Act for its financial struggles and it not being able to pay staff salaries.

But ANC staff representative committee chairperson, Mvusi Mdala, has insisted that the party had challenges paying salaries before the Act was implemented.

“More often, the party funding legislation is being blamed for our dire financial situation. However, we must set the record straight.

“The ANC supported the legislation in its current format. Therefore the organisation cannot be surprised by the limitations which result from the legislation. The salary payment delays started months before the legislation came into effect.

“ANC structures, such as the national working committee and national executive committee, must have monitoring mechanisms to ensure all commitments made on important matters such as labour disputes are actioned,” said Mdala during a media briefing on Friday.

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ANC’s employees have embarked on a stay-away since Monday. The staffers vowed not to return to work until all disputes were addressed.

Meanwhile, Mdala further said ANC staff members support all legislation aimed at curbing corruption.

The 2018 PPFA came into effect on 1 April 2021.

It came after Ramaphosa in January 2021 announced his decision to implement the Act following the National Assembly’s adoption of the bill.

The Act requires that donations of R100,000 and upwards be disclosed by parties and donors to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Political parties that violate certain sections of the Act could receive hefty fines, ranging from R40,000 to R1 million.