1. Media Comments on Draft Political Party Funding Bill, 2017
Presentation to Ad Hoc Committee on Funding of Political Parties NCOP
Mr. Izak Minnaar - SANEF
Ms. Karabo Rajuili – amaBhungane
20 June, 2018

2. Background on Sanef

3. Background on SANEF
Sanef, launched in 1996, is a non-profit organisation of editors, senior journalists and journalism trainers from all areas of the South African media.
Committed to championing South Africa’s hard-won freedom of expression and promoting quality, ethics and diversity in the South African media
We campaign for legislation to enable the media to do their job, and against commercial and legislative pressures that restrict media.

4. Background on amaBhungane

5. Background on amaBhungane
AmaBhungane is an independent, non-profit media company founded in 2009.
Develops investigative journalism to promote a free, capable and worthy media and open, accountable and just democracy.
We make our submissions as part of our advocacy mandate, which is to help secure the information rights that investigative journalists need to do their work.

6. Our interest in the draft Bill
Strengthening the legislation, to allow for the free flow of information necessary for the media and investigative journalists to inform the public.
Supporting the constitutional right to information.
Enabling civil society and oversight bodies – Parliament and the IEC – to monitor compliance and exert accountability.

7. Issues raised in our presentation
Adequacy of the public transparency provisions, incl:
Public disclosure of contributions to the Multi-Party Democracy Fund;
Public disclosure of Donations in Kind;
Circumvention and Related Parties counted as one;
Party business ventures to be restricted or disclosed.
(NEW) Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa.

8. A. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY FUND
Cl 3(5) provides for private persons who contribute to the IEC-controlled Multi-Party Democracy Fund to stay anonymous or for the size of their donation to be secret, at their request.
Anonymity makes use of the Fund susceptible to “laundry” of improper contributions

9. A. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY FUND
Our proposal:
Fund should be subject to the same robust transparency provisions as direct donations.
Drafting suggestion 3
(5) Any contributor contemplated in subsection (3)(a) who contributes below a prescribed threshold may request the Commission not to disclose their identity or the amount of the contribution.

10. B. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF DONATIONS IN KIND TO POLITICAL PARTIES
Definition of donations in kind excludes “personal services provided on a voluntary basis”, meaning that an individual donation of skills will never have to be disclosed.
Accounting, management consulting, legal or public relations advice – may amount to a very substantial benefit.
Such a benefit should be disclosed if it exceeds the threshold for the disclosure of other donations.

11. B. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF DIRECT FUNDING OF POLITICAL PARTIES
Drafting suggestion
The definition for donations in kind should be amended in the definitions section as follows: -
‘donation in kind’— …
(b) does not include personal services provided on a voluntary basis except where the cumulative
value of such services provided by any person over a twelve-month period exceeds the prescribed
threshold referred to in section 9(1)a;

12. C. CIRCUMVENTION AND RELATED PARTIES
Where thresholds are set, there is a risk of parties or donors circumventing the rules via fronting or splitting arrangements.
C l0(3) currently contains a prohibition on circumventing “any of the provisions of this Chapter”.
This prohibition does not go far enough.

13. C. CIRCUMVENTION AND RELATED PARTIES
Given the severity of the risk that the disclosure provisions will be circumvented, there should be explicit provisions relating to the following, at a minimum:
Contributions/donations from the same source or substantially related sources within any 12-month period must be regarded as a single contribution/donation.
The original source/s of a contribution must be declared to the party, the IEC and the public when payment is made via a third party.
Parties should disclose all donations to the IEC; not only donations above the threshold. The IEC – not parties -- should do the filtering so it can guard against misdeclaration.

14. C. CIRCUMVENTION AND RELATED PARTIES
Our proposals continued:
Splitting a contribution/donation between different persons or into different twelve-month reporting periods with the intention of circumventing disclosure must be a contravention under this Act.
Any other intentional circumvention of the disclosure provisions a contravention of this Act.

15. D.PARTY BUSINESS VENTURES TO BE RESTRICTED OR DISCLOSED
SA’s history of scandals over party investment vehicles doing business with the state, with the corrosive effects such relationships have had on our democracy.
Single most pressing public concern relating to party funding over the course of a decade or more.
The Bill appears to be silent on dividends or returns on investments that political parties may receive.

16. D.PARTY BUSINESS VENTURES TO BE RESTRICTED OR DISCLOSED
Our proposals:
The Bill should deal explicitly with the phenomenon of party investments, whether equity-based or not.
Compelling arguments could be made for a complete ban.
Alternatively, at minimum, all dividend and other investment income should be disclosed above donation threshold
Audited financial statements and auditors’ opinion referred to in cl 12(4) and submitted to the IEC, be made public annually by the IEC.

17. E. Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa
The ACHPR approved and formally announced the guidelines at its Mauritania meeting six weeks ago and the full text just became available.
Based on the 2013 African Model Law on Access to Information and the culmination of a two year AU wide consultation process.
“State Parties shall adopt legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to give effect to these Guidelines.” – clause 31
“State Parties shall, in each Periodic Report submitted to the African Commission in accordance with Article 62 of the African Charter, provide detailed information on the measures taken to facilitate compliance with the provisions of these Guidelines.” – clause 34

18. E.Principles Citizen’s rights to access to information;
Proactive disclosure;
Duty to create, keep, organize and maintain information;
Accessing information must be simple, quick and affordable;
Limited exemptions, with legitimate reasons;
Public interest override.

19. E.All electoral stakeholders to comply with the guidelines
Appointing authority of an election management body (EMB) – transparent process;
Election management bodies/electoral commissions ;
Observers and monitors;
Law enforcement agencies;
Media regulatory bodies and the media;
Civil society involved in electoral process.

20. E.Political parties and candidates
Proactive disclosure of (inter alia)
Clause 20
(i) Assets, investments, membership subscriptions, subventions and
donations; and
(j) Financial schemes initiated.
Clause 21: The legal framework of States Parties shall provide for the proactive disclosure by political parties of:
(a) Receipt of campaign funding from both public and private
sources;
(b) Campaign expenditure broken down into distinct line items and
specifying the sources of funding and actual amounts;
(c) Annual audited financial reports;

21. E. Political parties and candidates
Proactive disclosure of (inter alia):
Clause 22: States Parties shall adopt laws requiring the proactive disclosure of information on the use by all political parties of all state resources, providing for the following:
(a) Financial resources, covering the period starting one year before and ending six months after elections, including Government or central bank contracts with currency printers, Central Bank or Monetary Policy Committee reports, and Central Bank reports on Government issued bonds;
(b) Institutional resources …
(c) Regulatory resources …
(d) Enforcement resources …

22. Conclusion
We thank the NCOP committee for the opportunity to make submissions on a matter of significant importance to our constitutional democracy, and media freedom in South Africa.
We welcome steps taken by Parliament and political parties to ensure the public’s right to information is upheld.
Adequate and proactive disclosures of information will allow the media to do their job better. The NCOP has an important role in closing the gaps in the current Bill.

23. Q & A Izak Minnaar South African National Editor’s Forum
Karabo Rajuili
amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism