Cape Town - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday hears arguments demanding Parliament pass legislation for the disclosure of private political party funding in a case brought by My Vote Counts, a campaign for improved accountability and transparency in elections and politics.
Central to the legal arguments is section 32 (2) of the constitution - it gives the right of access to “any information held by the state”, among others, and stipulates national legislation must be passed to give effect to this right - and the 2000 Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).
In court documents, Parliament’s presiding officers argue the national legislature had discharged its once-off responsibility by passing Paia, while My Vote Counts contends an additional specific law should be enacted for political funding transparency.
The campaign applied to the highest court some 10 years after a previous civil society effort to break party political funding secrecy. The initiative by Idasa (the defunct Institute for Democracy in Africa) led to a 2005 Western Cape High Court judgment which found political parties were private entities that could not be forced to disclose, also ruled a legislated regimen should be introduced for accountability’s sake.
“Parliament has not ‘failed’ to enact the lacking legislation on party political funding, but rather ‘decided’ not to proceed towards its enactment,” argues My Vote Counts, highlighting the Speaker’s court documents themselves acknowledge the need for such legislation had been discussed since 1997 in the national legislature.
Parliament’s presiding officers want the application dismissed without the Constitutional Court making a determination of merits, according to court documents. While the justice minister and ANC indicated their intention to oppose the matter, it’s understood they have not filed the necessary court papers.
Party political funding has been a tough issue. During the Idasa court action, the ANC, DA, IFP and then New National Party all opposed efforts for private political party funding accountability. However, undertakings were made to the court that a specific law on private political party funding would be the best way to go.
The ANC at its 2007 Polokwane and 2012 Mangaung national conferences adopted resolutions for regulating private party political funding to promote and support democracy and full financial accountability and transparency.
Meanwhile, the Right to Know Campaign on Monday said it supported the My Vote Counts legal action for transparency in party political funding. “Voters have the right to know who funds who. Without knowing the financial backers of all major political parties, voters are kept in the dark about potential conflicts of interest and have no way of knowing who may be influencing the policies and activities of these parties.”
Political Bureau