Letter requests political parties reveal private funders

On Monday 31 March, My Vote Counts (MVC) and sixty mass-based organisations and NGOs including the Awethu! Platform, Black Sash, Right2Know campaign, Corruption Watch, Open Democracy Advice Centre, Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum, sent a letter to 14 political parties requesting they reveal their private funders.

According to the letter, “The secret space between political parties and their private funders is one of the areas most vulnerable to the corruptive influence of money... It is essential to the effective exercise of those citizens' right to vote that they be fully informed of how and by whom political parties are funded.... We need to know that our ordinary ballots will not be outweighed by the bank balances of others whose interests might come into conflict with our own.”

The letter requests that in order to show voters that they are committed to the constitutional principles of accountability and transparency, political parties need to provide a breakdown of all private donations received over the past twelve months (1 March 2013 – 28 February 2014). Right2Know (R2K) campaign’s Murray Hunter told People’s Assembly that R2K signed the letter because “the secrecy around who is bankrolling our major political parties is one of the biggest right-to-know issues of the day. Right now, wealthy individuals, corporations and even foreign governments have an opportunity to make massive donations to political parties, buying favours and potentially influencing policy. Ordinary South Africans have a right to know where the money is coming from.”

With a deadline of 10 April, political parties have been given two weeks to respond to the letter before those affiliated to the campaign collate and disseminate the information to the voting public. My Vote Counts and the Awethu! Platform is also organising a workshop in Johannesburg on 14 April 2014. In a seminar last week, MVC’s Solik said they are considering litigating as a means to force party funding transparency.