Cape Town - After a glut of funding ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Western Cape High Court has closed the tap on party political funding.
The court has ruled in favour of My Vote Counts (MVC) to reinstate a donation limit and disclosure threshold on political party funding.
The court order means the donation limit of R15 million will be reinstated, and parties are obliged to disclose all donations of above R100 000.
The ruling by Judge Daniel Thulare comes after the non-partisan organisation approached the court earlier this year, citing a gap in the legislation when President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Electoral Matters Amendment Act on May 8.
The amendment removed previous limits on the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), which stood at a R100000 disclosure threshold and a R15m annual donation cap for political parties, a decision MVC said “creates an environment for a political funding free-for-all”, allowing parties to accept donations of any amount, with no obligation to disclose them.
MVC senior researcher, Joel Bregman, said: “This opened the potential for abuse that could lead to unfair advantages for certain parties or candidates, fundamentally altering the competitive landscape in ways which would be potentially irreversible.
“The voters’ right to an informed vote would be taken away. This is a victory for transparency and accountability.
“While it does not advance our party funding laws, it reinstates the two key limits in the Political Party Funding Act that since their removal had rendered the law virtually meaningless and, on a practical and constitutional level, created a dangerous gap in our legislative framework. It is crucial that we safeguard our party funding legislation, but more needs to be done to deepen transparency and accountability in the private funding of politics.”
According to the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) declarations report for the 2023/24 financial year, Quarter 4, the DA led the pack with declared donations of R65m.
Some of the donations were from Naspers Limited (R2m), Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (R2.5m) and N Oppenheimer and J Oppenheimer (R10m each). This was followed by the ANC with R16m, with the party’s biggest donation coming from Harmony Gold Mining Company (R6.9m) and Naspers (R2m).
In the high court, the Presidency, the departments of Justice and Correctional Services, Home Affairs and the Speaker indicated they did not intend to oppose the court’s decision, while the DA made an application to intervene in the case, and indicated it would oppose MVC’s application.
The DA’s application would later be rejected by the court.
The Cape Argus reached out to the DA for comment, which yesterday referred it to its federal office, which did not respond by deadline.
ANC acting national spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi said the party was studying the judgment and would comment in due course.
Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA received R10.5m in Quarter 4.
Its national communications director, Samkelo Mgobozi, said: “ActionSA has continuously complied with its legal obligations in this regard, despite a myriad of other parties who appear not to.”
Build One SA (Bosa) spokesperson Roger Solomons said donors should not be targeted.
“Financial limits on funding are fine and well in principle. What we cannot have is those who fund opposition parties targeted and unfairly treated by government,” he said.
GOOD Party secretary-general and MPL Brett Herron welcomed the court’s decision.
“We have seen the obscene amount of money that has been donated to political parties for the 2024 elections. The elections became a contestation of billionaires instead of a contestation of ideas. It is extremely dangerous to our democracy for funding of political parties to go unregulated,” he said.