Reject political funding creep

The Political Party Funding Act is imperfect. That is where the agreement in South African society begins and ends.

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The four-year-old law has featured in the headlines this week, sparking criticism and introspection of the current dispensation that we have become accustomed to.

The Western Cape High Court this week dismissed an application by My Vote Counts to reexamine aspects of the Act — particularly amendments made by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week to double the thresholds of disclosure and donation limits. Individual donors may now give up to R200 000 anonymously, capped at a R30 million aggregate amount. But the court struck down the application on the basis that it was too speculative and did not offer hard evidence on the adverse aspects that it criticised.