By Johnathan Paoli
Parliament has heard rising calls for an increase in the upper limit for donations and the disclosure threshold of political party funding donors.
The Home Affairs Portfolio Committee convened public hearings on proposed amendments to the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), which aims to regulate private donations to political parties and ensure transparency in political financing.
Committee chair Mosa Chabane described the hearings as providing an opportunity for the public to make inputs that would guide decisions taken by Parliament on the threshold on political funding
“Public participation is the bedrock of South Africa’s constitutional democracy and Parliament has committed to ensuring meaningful public participation by ensuring that the views and aspirations are reflected in decisions made in Parliament,” Chabane said.
This follows a resolution in September to open a public consultation process on the draft motion addressing donation limits and disclosure thresholds.
The draft motion proposes a donation cap of R15 million per financial year and a disclosure threshold of R100,000, as stipulated in the Electoral Matters Amendment Act.
Stakeholders, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions, My Vote Counts, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the ANC presented their submissions during the virtual meeting.
The submissions revealed a range of views on the balance between transparency, accountability and practical political funding needs.
Cosatu called for the removal of disclosure thresholds, arguing that all donations should be declared to eliminate opportunities for corruption.
Acting Parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said that the federation supported raising donation caps to address inflation, but tied this to full disclosure of all contributions.
“We need to allow parties to fundraise and hence it makes sent to increase the limit on donations. It is equally critical to maintain the transparency and anti-corruption objectives and mechanisms of the Act by maintaining the requirement to disclose donations and in fact to require all donations to be disclosed,” Parks said.
The MVC advocated for stricter regulations, suggesting lower donation caps and full disclosure of all contributions.
Senior researcher Joel Bergman highlighted potential undue influence from high-value donors and urged Parliament to research political party expenditures to determine context-specific funding limits.
“There must be a balancing of the rights of access to information, to exercise political rights, and for our political system to be free from undue influence, on the one hand, and the rights of parties and independents to solicit private funding on the other,” Bergman said.
The IFP’s Busaphi Machi supported the current R15 million per financial year upper limit as a means of fostering fairness among parties and independent candidates.
Machi backed the R100,000 threshold, stating that it ensured transparency by enabling accountability for the activities of independent candidates or political parties, as their actions could be evaluated against the funding they have received.
The ANC supported doubling the donation cap and raising the disclosure threshold to alleviate administrative burdens and reflect economic realities.
However, it reiterated the need for transparency to maintain public trust in the democratic process.
The Independent Electoral Commission also participated in the discussions.
Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo noted that the R15 million cap was established through a parliamentary process, but suggested that any review should be based on rational deliberation rather than allegations.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference expressed concern over the influence of wealthy donors, but acknowledged a lack of concrete evidence to suggest undue influence.
It advocated for regulations that prevented such risks while allowing parties to fundraise effectively.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) highlighted the challenges of balancing donor transparency with the practical funding needs of political parties.
PBO director Dumisani Jantjies recommended further research into global best practices, inflation-adjusted limits and the actual costs of campaign activities.
Committee members emphasised the urgency of finalising the regulations to provide clarity and determination regarding transparency.
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