EFF welcomes the signing of the Political Party Funding Act by Ramaphosa

22 January 2021

The EFF welcomes the effecting of the Political Party Funding Act by President Ramaphosa which will come into operation from 1st April 2021. This Act which will regulate public/private funding for political parties is a step in the right direction in changing the landscape for political party funding and promoting transparency, by regulating the disclosure of donations.

Moreover, this Act prohibits funding from organs of state, state owned enterprises and foreign government agencies. The Act further prohibits persons or entities from delivering donations to a member of a political party other than for party political purposes, and as such political party members may only receive such a donation on behalf of a political party. Although the Act mentions that political parties may receive funding from foreign entities, such funding must be utilized only for training, skills, development, or policy development (i.e. for furthering political education).

This means that political parties ought to disclose all information and documentation to the IEC of all donations received — donations which the IEC will publicly disclose quarterly.

The signing of the Political Party Funding Act is long overdue. We are not surprised that it took Mr "seal the documents" Ramaphosa this long to sign what will evidently promote transparency about the flow of money, strengthen our democracy, and society's confidence in its leaders. It is a constitutional right to have information, so that there's transparency and accountability in government.

Thus, we call on Ramaphosa to unseal the CR17 documents in line and in the spirit with which he signed the Political Party Funding Act. As the President of this country Ramaphosa must lead by example and disclose his funders immediately.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 22 January 2021