Political parties obligated to record donations as Ramaphosa signs new bill

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed two key amendment bills into law on 26 May, which affects a number of previous rulings by the Constitutional Court.

Ramaphosa signed the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) Act, which gives powers to parliament to suspend or remove the head of Ipid.

In 2016, the Constitutional Court declared parts of the Ipid Act invalid and unconstitutional as they gave the minister of police absolute powers to suspend or remove the head of Ipid without a parliamentary process.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) had accused Minister of Police Bheki Cele of not willing to surrender his powers over Ipid when it comes to suspension and removal of its head.

The president also signed what is dubbed “the most important bill”, the Promotion of Access to Information Amendment Bill, which will require political parties to record their funding.

The act makes it an obligation for the head of a political party to keep track of and record any donations exceeding the prescribed threshold in any given financial year, which is R100,000.

Each party’s funding records will now have to be made public every quarter and held for five years, according to the act.

Read the Promotion of Access to Information Act below:

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.