New tool launched to monitor donations to political parties

The Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), which was introduced In 2021, forced political parties to disclose all donations of R100 000 and above.

Speaking at the launch on Thursday, data journalist from Open Up, Adam Oxford, said the various political parties only declared 137 donations.

"What is a little bit surprising is that over the two-year period, there have only been 137 donations declared, and that seems very small. This raises questions about where is the rest of the money coming from."  

My Vote Counts spokesperson Sheilan Clarke said the tool would assist the public in finding the origin of private donations to political parties.

"Having private financial transparency in our political parties is important so that we can see where the money comes from. We can see where political parties' interests lie. Not all funding will raise red flags because political parties need money to go about their business. We need to see these red flags especially going into the 2024 elections," said Clarke. 

My Vote Counts has already approached the High Court to declare the threshold for disclosure and an annual limit on the law that governs how political parties receive financial donations to be declared unconstitutional.

It believes every cent should be disclosed.

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