Concourt rules in favour of political party ‘transparency’

THE Constitutional Court has reiterated that voters have the right to know who funds political parties. Last year, the Western Cape High Court ruled that certain parts of the Promotion Access to Information Act (PAIA) must be amended to enable the public to access information on political parties’ private funding.

On Thursday, 21 June the highest court in the land ruled that voters have the right to know who funds the parties they vote for.

Reading the judgement Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said: “It is declared that information on private funding of political parties and independent candidates must be recorded, preserved and made reasonably accessible.”

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The Democratic Alliance was one of the parties who opposed the amendment. Speaking to the Northglen News the party’s James Selfe said: “The DA’s problem doesn’t lie in the fact that we will have to abide by this new rule. The real problem lies in the fact that the ANC has been diverting government’s resources for the party’s benefit. The ANC has numerously used various departments funding for their election campaign.”

The matter was taken to court by lobby group My Vote Counts NPC who argued that the disclosure of such information is critical for voters.

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Mogoeng went on to say: “The inbuilt capacity to sift the corrupt from the ethically upright is an indispensable requirement. For this reason, any information that completes the picture of a political party or an independent candidate in relation to who they really are or could be influenced by is essential for the proper exercise of the voter’s will on which our government is constitutionally required to be based.”

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