It was just less than five years ago that South Africans went to the polls in the most tightly contested local government elections since 1994.
The 2016 electoral cycle differed from previous ones for the following reasons:
- The EFF, having been established in 2013, was contesting municipal elections for the first time.
- In anticipation of a strong performance, the DA — having inched ever closer to the ANC in polls leading up to these elections — fielded a diverse list of candidates including Herman Mashaba, Athol Trollip and Solly Msimanga.
The ANC, which had dominated the electoral cycle until then, was reeling from a series of scandals that provided ammunition to opposition parties. In the more urban parts of the country, for example, there was a sense that the ANC stranglehold on voters had been broken and that the party had alienated many people through its series of scandals. The expectations turned out to be correct: the ANC lost control of the country’s key economic centres — Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.
Before the August polls, the ANC head of elections Nomvula Mokonyane let slip that the party had spent R1bn on the campaign. The explanation offered by Mokonyane referred to the various activities associated with campaigning that the ANC had to pay for. After the elections, when the ANC’s performance paled in comparison to its investment, then secretary-general Gwede Mantashe sought to erase the R1bn figure from the public discourse by denying that the ANC had spent anything close to that amount. What remained unresolved was the question of where the money might have come from in the first place.
The trade-off — as in the case of Bosasa and Sodi — seems to be the granting of state procurement contracts by the political players to businesses that answered the funding call
One year later, as the ANC converged on Nasrec to elect its new leaders, the victorious presidential candidate, Cyril Ramaphosa, was rumoured to have raised more than R1bn to finance his campaign. That source of funding has been subjected to scrutiny by the public protector amid allegations that Ramaphosa may have been sponsored by people who now expect favours in return.
The tale of the two billions forms part of the conversation around the question of political party funding and what ought to be known about it. The veil of secrecy around how parties are financed has long been criticised by civil society and eventually led to the development of the Political Party Funding Act. This law seeks to regulate how political parties interact with donors and other financial support structures. It aims to usher in a model of transparency.
The case for transparency has been bolstered by the recent disclosures — bombshells, really — before the Zondo state capture commission. From Bosasa to Edwin Sodi, evidence has been led showing the dependency of political parties and political players on the largesse of business people, who occasionally get called upon to offer financial support. The trade-off — as in the case of Bosasa and Sodi — seems to be the granting of state procurement contracts by the political players to businesses that answered the funding call.
For parties that are able to appoint and deploy party affiliates to state entities that issue the contracts, the possibility of quid pro quo arrangements is obvious. Under the new act, parties have to disclose sources of funding above R100,000. Funding from foreign sources and state entities is expressly prohibited. Those who wish to support parties have to accept the spotlight and scrutiny associated with that, or simply redirect their resources towards the universal political system by donating to a multiparty fund.
The new rules will force parties such as the ANC and DA to engage their big donors and convince them that the perils of association are no reason to stop funding the party. But in an age where brand association is considered a potential business risk, it will be a challenge as great as convincing voters to back them once more in the 2021 elections.
• Sithole (@coruscakhaya) is an accountant, academic and activist.
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