Ask any of the parties contesting the May 7 elections whether they are committed to transparency and they will all, without exception, shine up their rainbow coloured halos and tell you they are the most zealous defenders of this elusive ideal.
They will then usually submit you to an unsolicited diatribe about why they are so very committed to the principles of transparency while the other parties are of course, not.
After the campaign tirade, your next question is, “Who are your funders?” And the speech machine clangs shut so loudly its reverberations set off tsunami alarms off the coast of Sumatra. A stunned silence asks, “How dare you want to know where our money comes from?”
The question is obvious as any aspiring journalist knows – Follow the money – and you will usually find a great story. The phrase was originally popularised in the 1976 docu-drama “All the president’s men” but the book used a more pointed turn of phrase “The key is the secret campaign cash, and it should all be traced”.
The reason why “the key is in the secret campaign cash” is because whoever contributes cash to a political campaign expects something in return. No business or individual donates large sums of money to a campaign out of the goodness of their hearts – all business people live by the ROI principle where everything is measured by its Return On Investment.
Whenever I have asked political parties the dreaded question, “Who are your funders?” they wait until they recover their breath and remind me that they are not required to do so in terms of South African law.
The old adage “He who pays the piper calls the tune” is just as true now as it was when all you had to pay was a piper. Major political donors are either buying goodwill, a specific favour or in some cases – buying the party.
Whenever I have asked political parties the dreaded question, “Who are your funders?” they wait until they recover their breath and remind me that they are not required to do so in terms of South African law.
This means that politicians who publicly commit themselves to transparency will not tell you who is funding their advertising campaigns or their never ending stream of gala dinners and working breakfasts.
Sometimes they say that they would be happy to open their books but feel they have to protect their donors. They fear that funding would dry up if such information were publicised.
The DA has said they would be willing to reveal the sources of their funding but only if the ANC would also do so. The make this hollow commitment knowing full well that that the ANC would never open its books.
As a journalist, but also as a citizen of this country and a committed voter – I want to know who is paying the piper. Transparency is essential to a fully functioning democracy.
Steven Lang is SABC Digital News Executive Producer
– By OPINION: Steven Lang, SABC Digital News Executive Producer
![[File Image] President Cyril Ramaphosa receives the first part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture from the Commission’s Chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/SABC-News-Ramaphosa-Zondo-GCIS-120x86.jpg)
