Parliament has once again found itself compelled to yield to court pronouncements in a matter in which the then-majority ANC deviated from its own better judgment.
The Western Cape High Court has indicated its displeasure about the withdrawal of a draft ANC resolution presented to the previous National Assembly. The resolution outlined the threshold for the reporting of political party funding at R100,000 and the maximum amount that could be donated within a financial year by a single entity at R15m. These were the amounts that prevailed in the Political Party Funding Act.
The withdrawn draft resolution was replaced by one which left it to President Cyril Ramaphosa to decide this threshold and limit. Until the president issues the regulations, there is a lacunae in the law leaving undetermined the parameters of political party funding.
The latter motion was adopted, prompting NGO My Vote Counts to launch an urgent application in the high court, to ensure that limits and thresholds for political party funding are kept in place.
The National Assembly’s programme committee has decided to inform the court that the assembly will reconsider the resolution once it returns from its recess on August 19. Failing this, the court might set the threshold and limit itself. Parliament’s legal advisers have recommended that the assembly adopt a resolution that contains an upper limit and threshold.
Far too often laws are passed or decisions made by parliament that are overturned by the courts, sometimes due to their unconstitutionality or because proper procedures such as adequate public participation were not adhered to.
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