The National Assembly has approved the Political Party Funding Bill. It will now be sent to the National Council of Provinces for consideration.
If the Bill is enacted into law, it will ensure that all political parties represented in the national and provincial legislatures disclose their private financial donors.
Only the Economic Freedom Fighters objected to the Bill, saying it will not provide effective accountability and transparency.
If the Bill becomes law, political parties represented in the national and provincial legislatures will be required to declare their financial donations to the Independent Electoral Commission as part of regulating their funding.
The EFF says this Bill is not going to solve the problem of accountability, especially by parties with big numbers in parliament.
EFF MP Natasha Ntlangwini says:”The EFF therefore rejects this bill because once again it repeats the political imbalances without achieving any meaningful transparency. The EFF since its inception has asked for total financial disclosure of all political parties so that the public knows who funds the parties who represent them in parliament.”
ANC MP and Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting the Bill, Vincent Smith, took the lead in support of it.
Smith told the house that the passing of the envisaged Bill is something that should have happened a long time ago.
“The courts agreed, and today parliament has heard this demand and we are implementing accordingly. This bill is about building nation and not the rand taking superior of the will of the people. The will of the people wants to make sure that the narrow interest those with the big bank balances or who have access to big party bosses never rejects the will of the people or party supporters.”
The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance supported the Bill but not without words of caution.
DA MP James Selfe says the Bill in its current form, is falling short in addressing certain loopholes in the system regulating political party funding.
The UDM was unequivocal in its approval of the Bill.
The IFP says while it may be true that the Bill is not going to solve every problem, it is a step in the right direction.
Other parties that supported the Bill are COPE, the NFP, ACDP and Agang SA.
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