1. Oral Submission to the Ad Hoc Committee on Party Funding (NCOP) – June 2018

2. Suggested Amendments: MPDF
Do not allow donors who donate to the MPDF to retain anonymity
Clause 3(5): “Any contributor contemplated in subsection (3)(a) may request the Commission not to disclose their identity or the amount of the contribution”
Risk: Donors gaining favour with several political parties in secret
Goes against the spirit of the Bill and should be removed
Remove Clause 3(5)

3. Suggested Amendments: MPDF
(continued)
Include the local government sphere in the MPDF
Local government direct sphere of government that serves local communities
No constitutional or legislative basis that limits local government from benefitting from the MPDF
Include local government to benefit from MPDF

4. Suggested Amendments: MPDF Change the allocation formula of the MPDF
(continued)
Change the allocation formula of the MPDF
Clause 6(2): “Any allocation from the Funds must be made to a represented political party in accordance with the prescribed formula”
Clause 2(2) in the regulations: allows for 66.67% of the MPDF to be distributed proportionally and 33.33% equitably
Change the formula so that 50% of Funds is distributed equitably and 50% proportionally so that smaller parties benefit more fairly

5. Suggested Amendments: RPPF & MPDF
Clarify and specify permissible expenditure items or categories
Clause 7 includes permissible expenditure items and categories
These include vague terms (e.g. “the political will of the people”) that should not be open to interpretation
The Bill should comprehensively list and specify what parties may spend Funds on

6. Suggested Amendments: Direct Funding
Do not allow foreign entities to donate to a political party for policy development
Clause 8(1)(b) prohibits foreign entities from donating to political parties with the exception in Clause 8(4)(b) which allows foreign entities to donate for policy development of a political party
The term “policy development” is vague
Foreign entities donating to a political party presents a danger to our democracy

7. Suggested Amendments: Direct Funding
(continued)
Regulate the disclosure of information on parties investment vehicles
All financial means of contribution to political parties should be monitored
Loophole: A donor can invest into a political party’s investment vehicles instead of to the MPDF or directly to a party’s bank account, and this would not be disclosed under the provisions of this Bill
Include a provision to regulate information on parties’ investment vehicles

8. Suggested Amendments: Direct Funding (continued)
Prohibit donations from companies that do business with the state
Clause 8(1) prohibits certain sources of donations but does not include companies that do business with the state
Risk: The perception or potential risk that a company that does business with the state is unduly gaining favour by donating to a political party should be avoided
Include a prohibition provision for these companies

9. Suggested Amendments: Direct Funding (continued)
Lower the ‘upper limit’ that a single donor can donate
Clause 8(2): A political party may not accept a donation from a person or entity in excess of the prescribed amount within a financial year . The “prescribed amount” is referred to as R15 million in Clause 7 of the regulations
Risk: A party is wholly dependent on one donor
This amount is too high, lower the amount and peg it to annual median income of black women - R34 644(Business Tech Publication, 2016)

10. Suggested Amendments: Direct Funding (continued)
Do not allow members to personally receive donations
Clause 10(1): “No person or entity may deliver a donation to a member of a political party other than for party political purposes.”
No member should directly receive donations for any purposes
Risk: an individual member receives hundreds of thousands of Rands in donations for “party political purposes”, and political parties are unable to track, monitor or control these funding flows
All donations should go directly to political parties

11. Suggested Amendments: Disclosures
Include to ‘whom’ the IEC must publish information on parties’ directly received donations
Clause 9(3): “The Commission must publish the donations disclosed to it […] in the prescribed form and manner” AND “on a quarterly basis”
Risk: the information is merely published to Parliament and is not easily accessible to the public
Include that this information should be published to the public in Clause 9(3)

12. Suggested Amendments: Disclosures (continued)
Lower the ‘prescribed threshold’ from R to R10 000
Clause 9(1)(a): “a political party must disclose to the Commission all donations received […] above the prescribed threshold”
Clause 9 of the regulations states that the prescribed threshold is R
In the socio-economic context of South Africa, the amount should be lowered to R10 000

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