Johannesburg – The new law forcing political parties to disclose their funders is set to have a serious blow on the coffers of the SACP.
The party’s general secretary Blade Nzimande warned the organisation of the implications of the newly promulgated Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), saying it was going to discourage donors from funding the party.
“The passage and implementation of the Political Party Funding Act and its implications for both the ANC and more so the SACP, needed to be addressed,” Nzimande said in a political report delivered at the party’s augmented central committee last week.
“All political parties are unhappy with some aspects of the act, including the R15-million limit it placed as a cap on fundraising by political parties. “Disclosure of party funding by donors may dissuade the not-so-many-donors that we have as the SACP. The PPFA will not provide any funding to the SACP as the funds [are] only provided to political parties that win seats in elections. But the fact that donors who donate R100 000 or more will be publicly named, may well reduce the readiness to donate to the SACP.”
The augmented central committee – which happens once a year – brings all structures of the SACP and its leadership at district level together. The act will commence on Thursday, well in time for this year’s local elections.
In terms of the new act, political parties are required to disclose all donations received above the disclosure threshold of R100 000 to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) every three months. The disclosures must be reported to parliament by the commission.
Donors were also required to disclose all donations above the disclosure threshold to the IEC within 30 days of donating. The act also prohibited donations to parties by foreign governments or agencies, foreign persons or entities, organs of state or state-owned enterprises.
The DA was among the vocal political parties against the act, saying it was going to make it hard for businesses getting contracts from the government to donate to other parties except the ANC.
Reflecting further on the upcoming local elections, Nzimande called on the party’s leadership to discuss the party’s special national congress resolution of contesting elections in areas where the ANC imposes unpopular candidates because of factionalism.
The party needed to share its approaches to elections openly with its allies – the ANC and Cosatu – Nzimande said, adding that the organisation needed to thoroughly analyse its electoral experiences in Metsimaholo in Free State, the electoral experiment of former Cosatu affi liate Numsa, among others.
He said electoral experiences of some of the communist parties in places like India and Cyprus also needed to be analysed.
“This document was never made public and properly discussed in the ANC and more so in the alliance. The SACP cannot participate in such campaigning without these matt ers being addressed ,” he said.
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