IEC: Political party funding should be regulated
The IEC is on Thursday afternoon briefing Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee tasked with reviewing the way political parties are funded.
CAPE TOWN - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says the private funding of political parties should be regulated and that foreign donations should either be banned or strictly limited.
The IEC is on Thursday afternoon briefing Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee tasked with reviewing the way political parties are funded.
IEC deputy chairperson Terry Tselane says there are no limits on how much money parties can receive or spend and they don't have to disclose any information about private donations or their investment vehicles.
“Consequently, the public is not informed about where political parties get a large share of their money from or how they spend it. This clearly goes against international practice which commonly regulates private income."
Tselane's also told Members of Parliament that the way public funds are divided up between parties is unfair because it favours bigger parties, while parties not represented in Parliament or provincial legislatures aren't covered.
#PartyFunding IEC is basically saying it won't be able to police private funding of parties AND run elections properly - need new body GD
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) August 17, 2017
#PartyFunding IEC's Tselane says independent candidates must be covered by regulations or parties can use as proxy fundraisers GD
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) August 17, 2017
#PartyFunding Tselane says his reference to foreign funding refers mainly to foreign governments, not S Africans in diaspora GD
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) August 17, 2017
(Edited by Zinhle Nkosi)
