South African Electoral Commission ready for new funding law

PRETORIA, Jan. 30, (Xinhua/GNA) – The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Friday said they are ready to operationalize the Political Party Funding Act on April 1 to ensure there is accountability and transparency in the funding of political parties in the country.

The new legislation required all political parties to disclose any funding more than R100,000 (about 6,660 U.S. dollars). The IEC would publish the donations online and report to Parliament annually.

“Transparency and information is a foundation for free and fair elections and this Act will go a long way in providing information to voters, the media, civil society and all other stakeholders on how political parties are privately funded,” said the IEC Chairperson Glen Mashinini.

Since the local government elections scheduled for August and November this year, political parties are required to disclose all donations received between April and June.

They should publish the procedures, deadlines and methods of declaration of donations including templates of the various online forms and other forms of correspondence, according to Mashinini.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said: “The successful implementation of the new party funding disclosure framework will rely heavily on self-regulation and compliance. We do not want to be the party funding transparency police. We want to be the party funding transparency facilitators.”
GNA