File picture: Kevin Sutherland/EPA File picture: Kevin Sutherland/EPA
Johannesburg - The Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has appointed a new executive to manage its political party funding unit.
The IEC said George Mahlangu, a financial expert, commenced his duties on Thursday.
"He previously served as chief financial officer at Gauteng’s Department of Health and Department of Local Government, and before that, Mr Mahlangu was chief financial officer at the National Youth Commission. He joins the IEC from the private sector where he was most recently CEO at a transport company. Mr Mahlangu is a seasoned financial expert having served as a chief financial officer in the private and public sectors for many years," the IEC said in a statement on Thursday.
"He is qualified with both an LLB and a BCompt (Honours) which provide him with an ideal blend of legal and financial knowledge to fill this important new role as head of the new party funding unit. He will operate at the level of a deputy chief electoral officer and report directly to the chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo."
The IEC is holding public hearings into the new political party funding law in Cape Town. The Act seeks to regulate party funding and ensure that all political parties disclose private donations to promote transparency.
The party funding bill was passed by Parliament in 2018 and signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year. The new law requires parties to report their funding to the commission, which would publish the information on a quarterly basis. There is no need for parties to declare donations of R100 000 or less, while an individual's donation to a party is capped at R15 million. Furthermore, the Act prohibits political parties from accepting donations they ought to have known were generated from proceeds of crime.