South African political parties face new R30 million donation cap under committee proposal

The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs has moved to bolster the framework regulating political donations, recommending to the National Assembly an increase in the disclosure threshold and upper limits for donations to political parties and independent candidates.

This comes after the committee completed the public hearings into the upper limits and disclosure threshold for donations and disclosures.

The national legislature undertook the exercise after it was taken to court by the lobby group, My Vote Counts, when it passed the Electoral Amendment Act without setting the upper limits for donation and disclosure thresholds.

Before the amendment, the disclosure threshold was R100 000 per financial year and the upper limit donation was R15 million per financial year to political parties.

When the newly amended law was passed, which also catered for independent candidates in line with the Political Party Funding Act, the National Assembly was required to pass a resolution to enable the president to make regulations relating to the amounts and set out factors to consider in regulating the amounts.

However, when the amended legislation came into operation in May, there were no amounts determined for disclosure threshold or upper limits or donations received.

This prompted the My Vote Counts to lodge an application in the Western Cape High Court in May seeking an order.

The Western Cape High Court ruled that a legal lacuna had been created and inserted a read-in provision, which was basically the reinstatement of the old amounts.

In its report, the committee said it noted that the Political Party Funding Act required that the president, acting on a resolution of the National Assembly, may by proclamation in the gazette make regulations for the maximum amount of a donation that may be accepted from a person or entity, within a financial year and the threshold amount in donations received that must be disclosed.

The committee said the National Assembly should resolve that the president as soon as reasonably possible make regulations regarding the amounts' disclosure and thresholds for donations.

Committee chairperson Mosa Chabane said the committee resolved to recommend to the National Assembly that the upper limit of donations be set at R30 million and that the disclosure limit be set at R200 000 in a financial year.

Chabane was confident that the process has produced a motion that strikes a balance between the considerable cost of running political programmes and the need for transparency.

"This process has been rigorous and involved and recognises the value of public involvement, openness, and transparency.

"The recommendations made are also evidence-based, and they take into consideration that there was no framework that guided the previous upper limit and disclosure threshold. The resolution we have made today is crucial to bring the threshold in line with inflationary increases over time," he said.

Chabane also said the committee acknowledged that there might be a need to review the Political Party Funding Act, particularly in light of the gaps and shortcomings of the legislation.

“The committee acknowledged that the unfolding process undertaken by the Electoral Reform Consultation will directly affect the funding of political activities going forward.”

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za