ActionSA demands full compliance with PPFA

The party’s comments come ahead of the Western Cape High Court’s two-day hearing regarding My Vote Counts' application to challenge the Act's constitutionality.

My Vote Counts (MVC) seeks to have parts of the Act declared unconstitutional, arguing that it fails to ensure full transparency and accountability in political party funding.

However, ActionSA argues that MVC is missing the more significant issue: the widespread non-compliance by political parties, which remains unaddressed. The party insists that this issue must be tackled to uphold the integrity of the law.

Speaking outside the court on Monday, ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, warned that MVC’s application could limit the country’s multi-party democracy. 

He explained that the relief MVC is seeking would disproportionately impact smaller to medium-sized donors, who currently donate below the existing threshold without fear of political or economic retaliation. 

“The relief sought by MVC will have the effect of throttling party funding by small to medium-sized donors who elect to make donations below the current threshold because they can do so without being disclosed and the consequent and real fear of political or economic reprisal,” Beaumont said.

“This, when considered against the absurdity of a small to medium-sized donation buying influence in parties where campaigns run into the tens and hundreds of millions of rands, demonstrates the short-sightedness of MVC.”

Beaumont pointed out that small donations have minimal influence on political parties, especially when campaigns cost tens or hundreds of millions of rands, highlighting MVC's shortsightedness.

“Political parties that are not represented in parliament have no other means to raise money for their campaigns – what all this means is that established political players will be favoured over time, and it will be very difficult for small political parties to have their foot in the door to gain representation into Parliament.” 

While ActionSA supports transparency, Beaumont argued that the application risks stifling party campaigns, favouring established political parties and making it harder for smaller parties to enter Parliament. 

He also criticised the government's delegation of non-compliance investigations to the IEC, pointing out that the IEC lacks the capacity and expertise to properly handle such tasks. 

"What the Political Party Funding Act did was to dump the job of investigating non-compliance on the IEC, an institution with no capacity or experience in such investigations," Beaumont added.

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