Small parties set to score with Political Party Funding Bill

A military policeman patrols Parliament in Cape Town. Picture: Nic Bothma / EPA

A military policeman patrols Parliament in Cape Town. Picture: Nic Bothma / EPA

Published Sep 29, 2018

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Cape Town - Minor parties are set to score big when the Political Party Funding Bill is signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa as this will swell their coffers compared with the current system.

The bill is expected to be signed into law before the 2019 general elections and this would allow for the setting up of a multiparty democracy fund to be run by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

The fund would allow the IEC to distribute donations equally among all the parties represented in Parliament.

Currently, the system allows for funds to be distributed by the IEC based on the number of seats a party has in the national legislature.

In a recent annual report tabled by the IEC in Parliament, it was shown that when coming to funds allocated to parties, the ANC has been getting the big slice of the cake because of its electoral support.

In the report, the IEC allocated R133million for the 2017 financial year and said that 90% of this was on proportional representation, with only 10% allocated equally among the parties.

The ANC received R79m from the IEC in the last financial year, the DA as the second-biggest party got R28m and the EFF received R10m.

The IFP received R3.7m, the National Freedom Party R2m and the Freedom Front Plus got R1.9m.

Cope was given R1.8m and the United Democratic Movement, R1.4m. 

* Additional reporting by African News Agency/ANA

Political Bureau

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