President Cyril Ramaphosa has criticised South Africa’s political funding law which is meant to streamline financial contributions made to political parties so that they are more transparent.
The Political Party Funding Act, which Ramaphosa signed into law in January 2021 and became effective in April, has come under fire for scaring donors away from the African National Congress party, the president said on Sunday.
The requirement that political parties should declare their funding sources has affected the coffers of the ANC as some businesses did not want to be openly associated with the ruling party, Ramaphosa said.
Some ANC funders had distanced themselves from the party because of the need to declare funding – preferring to remain anonymous, he said.
“There are businesspeople who would say, ‘I don’t want, in running my business, to be on the front page of a newspaper.’ They are the ones who say, ‘I am not going to fund you’,” Ramaphosa said.
The law requires parties to disclose sources of funds of more than US$7,000 and limits single donor funding to US$1.1 million per year.
ANC national executive committee member, Dakota Legoete, said the ANC was not the only party that wanted the law amended.
“We are taking it back to parliament for it to be amended. It is not only the ANC who say the act must be amended. It includes the Economic Freedom Front, Democratic Alliance and other parties. We are all affected,” Legoete said.
NM/jn/APA