My Vote Counts argues the president accorded too much power to determine party donation limits

CAPE TOWN - The contentious matter of private donations to political parties and independents will be back before the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, as lobby group My Vote Counts challenges the constitutionality of the Political Funding Act.

On Monday, it told the court that it doesn’t agree with the powers accorded to the president to fix the maximum amount of money a political party or independent can receive from a private donor.

The court also heard that by not curtailing how much a donor can donate across the political spectrum could influence democracy.

My Vote Counts said Parliament arbitrarily came up with the current donation limit of R15 million annually while failing to put limits on the donor itself, which it said could have a "monumental impact" on influencing politics in the country.

Advocate Vlad Movshovich argued that the president was also accorded too much power to determine what the donation limit and declaration threshold should be, and it’s unconstitutional for Parliament to delegate this role to him.

The president can, however, only exercise this power on a resolution from Parliament.

But My Vote Counts said a president was a "tainted political actor", since the regulations would have far-reaching consequences for his own party.

The organisation further argued for complete transparency of how private donations were spent, while also insisting that each and every cent received should be declared, not only amounts above R100,000.

For its part, Parliament has told the court this application is one that should instead be before the Constitutional Court, and that it’s untrue sufficient public participation was not conducted before amending the act.

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