It’s time South African voters insist political parties reveal their funding sources, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceofGasant column. There are laws obliging them to lay it out in public because it is important to know which vested interests are at play.
South Africa has some sound laws. Pity they’re not enforced because of logistics, sheer lack of will or not enough resources. I mean, here in Cape Town, a by-law can shut up your neighbour’s dog if they bark constantly for two minutes. Good luck trying to get a City of Cape Town official to your house with a stopwatch.
There is a Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) that prevents the spreading of my personal information from being distributed without my permission. My details must have been spread before the act came into effect because I get several unsolicited calls a day offering me insurance, another cellphone with contract and debt solutions.
I realise people in call centres need to earn a living. But it’s not cool calling someone before 9am (when we wake up in Cape Town) or outside of office hours. I admit to having a bit of fun at the callers’ expense with some stock responses to end the call abruptly. They include:
- ‘Hi. I’m blacklisted.’ (End of the call.)
- ‘Hi. No, I don’t own a car.’ (End of the call.)
- ‘Hi. Do you mind holding?’ (Not the end of the call but checking how long the caller will hold.)
But there are laws I want us all to insist the authorities enforce. According to Media and Communications lecturer Sheilan Clarke, political parties are obliged to disclose their funding sources publicly after an amendment to the Promotion of Access to Information Act in 2019. But the Information Regulator is not following through. Additionally, the Political Party Funding Act compels parties to disclose their funding sources to the IEC to publicise every quarter.
As Clarke confirms: we have great laws but we’re just awful at enforcing them.
Why is it important? For the same reason discerning shoppers don’t buy at certain stores, you wouldn’t vote for a certain party if you knew who funded it. For example, Gayton McKenzie of the Patriotic Alliance is mouthy about his party’s support for Israel despite its genocidal tendencies. Could it be that his hateful party – with an aversion to foreigners who happen to be African or Asian – is backed by Zionists?
And those DA folk have been pretty quiet about the happenings in Gaza too. In fact, the only time the DA commented was to condemn Hamas, which is of course the right thing to do. But not when you’re silent about Israel’s atrocities.
The ANC dipped into the Gupta pot of gold and sold our country to a family able to cherry-pick ministers with oversight of key industries like mining. Even the DA’s Helen Zille, who used the Guptas as a stick to beat the ANC, wrote a glowing letter of thanks to the family for a donation.
There are always whispers that the Stellenbosch billionaire set funds most political parties in some way or other, despite what is said publicly deriding white monopoly capital.
Thing is, when the chips are down and you need a cash injection to mobilise ahead of an election for T-shirts and Streetwise Twos to give to voters, you’d say and do just about anything. This also means not biting the hand that feeds you. Or worse: you’re prepared to do the bidding of your funder. It stands to reason.
As we enter the last few weeks before the elections, I’m calling on all South Africans to hold political parties to account. We need to know the hidden hands’ bankrolling parties so we can see what agendas are being driven. This is as crucial to our democracy as voting and in the spirit of openness and transparency that we always hear politicians preach about but seldom practice.
They’re going to spam call you – breaking the POPIA act – and ask you to vote. They’re coming to a town hall near you for a debate. They will feature on radio stations and TV, trying to sell their ideologies. Use the chance to put them on the spot and insist they reveal their funders.
If you want my vote, you’re going to have to show me who is funding you.
Also read:
The Joshlin Smith case is the stain on our 30 years of democracy we can’t ignore
Picture: Tara Winstead / Pexels