Johnathan Paoli
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has called on naysayers to legally challenge the recently passed Electoral Matters Amendment Bill.
The Bill was passed in the National Assembly on Tuesday, following an ANC-EFF victory of 240 votes against 90 from the opposition.
The Bill is a sequel to the Electoral Amendment Act that was passed last year to provide for independent candidates to stand for election in national and provincial legislatures, and provides for the regulation of the private and public funding of independent candidates and independent representatives, among other matters.
The Minister said the proposed funding formula would change the allocation from two-thirds proportional and one-third equitable to 90% and 10% respectively.
Motsoaledi said the necessary amendments to five acts catering solely for political parties was due to the proliferation and facilitation of the election of independent candidates.
“Most of the amendments are technical. When it comes to political funding, more needs to be done to accommodate independent candidates so that they too are funded for their activities,” the minister said.
EFF’s Naledi Chirwa said all parties and independent candidates should be made to declare their funding even before election within the legislatures.
“The IEC should audit their books to check whether funding comes from illegitimate resources and criminal activities,” Chirwa said.
However, opposition parties have voiced their disapproval with DA MP Adrian Roos calling the Bill a crude attempt by the ANC to cling to power.
Roos said the new formula would result in an extra R50 million allocation going to the ANC and the income of smaller parties being reduced and that procedural irregularity on the substantive changes remained an issue.
“It has nothing to do with the inclusion of independent candidates,” Roos charged.
Opposition party IFP has called into question the nature of the ruling party’s decision in proceeding with these changes, with MP Liezl van der Merwe saying that the move hinted towards a bullying tactic, in relation to their demographic superiority as a means to retain power.
“It can be described as a money grab by the ruling party to nullify the leveling of the playing field,” she said, and hinted towards legal action following the successful passing of the legislation.
UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa bemoaned the consequences of the Bill and said it was the opposite of what was intended when the Bill was introduced.
“This matter is going to court. We are going to challenge it and you run the risk of not being able to get resources or any funding before the elections,” Kwankwa said.
GOOD Party MP Brett Herron referred to the Bill as a thinly veiled response by the ANC to the impact new parties were having on changing the shape of the country’s political landscape.
“The sponsors of the Bill are taking the wholly unrelated, and uncalled for, opportunity to throttle opposition parties by changing the way that public political funding is distributed,” Herron said.
Similarly, the FF+ expressed its concerns, with party leader Corne Mulder saying that this was an attempt by the ANC to hog most of the funding, and ensure a systematic disadvantage to upcoming parties and independent candidates.
“The ANC is playing with fire and jeopardizing the upcoming elections. It should not think for one second that other political parties and civil organisations will sit idly by as the ANC blatantly tries to take all the election funding for itself,” Mulder said.
Following the passing of the Bill by the National Assembly, it has been sent to the National Council of Provinces for confirmation, and then to the president for signing.
INSIDE POLITICS