My Vote Counts back in court for second round of challenge to Electoral Matters Amendment Act

JOHANNESBURG - Lobby group My Vote Counts is back in the Western Cape High Court on Monday for round two of its challenge to the Electoral Matters Amendment Act. 

The act was signed into law earlier this year.

But My Vote Counts said it effectively removed the limits for accepting and declaring donations which were previously prescribed in the Political Party Funding Act. 
 
The organisation wants the previous status quo, which set an annual limit of R15 million on donations, and all amounts over R100,000 had to be declared, reinstated.

In May, the court found prima facie, or on the face of it, that My Vote Counts had established its case.

In its ruling, it emphasised that "secrecy enables corruption" and that this was why "information on private funding must be compulsorily 'held'."

It said "the foundational values of our constitutional democracy - like openness, responsiveness [and] accountability" - could, otherwise, be "at the mercy of unknown and even unscrupulous funders".

However, it stopped short of issuing an order of constitutional invalidity, or an interim interdict, at the time.

Instead, it issued a rule nisi, effectively ordering the parties involved to return to court on Monday to present their final arguments on why an order should, or shouldn’t, be made in favour of My Vote Counts.