The President ignores MVC and R2K's request to sign the Party Funding Bill urgently

29 November 2018

South Africans urgently need the Political Party Funding Bill signed well before the elections. My Vote Counts(MVC) and Right 2 Know(R2K) have once again written to the President of the Republic urging him to sign the Bill before the end of November 2018. We had given the President a deadline of 28 November 2018 to respond to our letter. 

State Capture, the SARS Inquiry, the BOSASA saga and the VBS Mutual Bank heist are some of the political scandals that could have been minimised or prevented if we had adequate legislation in place. This is the gap the Political Party Funding Bill aims to plug and it’s just awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature.

For the Bill to be implemented before May 2019 which is when we are set to have the general elections, the Bill would need to be signed into law 6 months prior.

Former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela had recently gone public urging the President to put voters first and sign the Bill into law.

On 10 August 2018, we wrote an open letter to the President. Post this, it was reported that the President's spokesperson had confirmed that the Party Funding Bill was one of 3 Bills that he was urgently considering. 

If the President is serious about fighting corruption and values transparency and accountability he would sign the Bill into law.

You can sign our petition urging the President to sign the Bill here: 

MVC is a civil society organisation aimed at improving the accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of South Africa’s political and electoral systems.

Issued by Sheilan Clarke on behalf of My Vote Counts, 29 November 2018