Donation to enhance political funding transparency

THE National Assembly yesterday adopted a report proposing increased disclosure thresholds and upper limits for donations to political parties and independent candidates.

- MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

This unanimous decision, except for dissent from the MK Party, Build One South Africa, Al Jama-ah, and the ATM, is a sequel to the public hearings undertaken by the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee after Parliament was taken to court by lobby group, My Vote Counts, when it passed the Electoral Amendment Act without setting the upper limits for donation and disclosure thresholds before the 2024 elections.

Before the amendment, the disclosure threshold was R100 000 per financial year, and the upper limit for donations was R15 million per financial year to political parties.

When the newly amended law was passed, which also catered for independent candidates in line with the Political Party Funding Act, the National Assembly was required to pass a resolution to enable the president to make regulations relating to the amounts and set out factors to consider in regulating the amounts.

However, when the amended legislation came into operation in May, there were no amounts determined for disclosure threshold or upper limits or donations received.