The issue of party political funding will be a matter of legal contestation this week, with lobby group My Vote Counts approaching the high court in Cape Town to reinstate the previous financial thresholds until new regulations are in place.
The Electoral Matters Amendment Bill removed the limits for accepting and declaring donations, which was prescribed in the Political Party Funding Act. This means that until the president sets new limits, political parties can receive vast amounts of money from private backers and not have to declare it.
Last week, the electoral court fined six big parties, including the ANC, for failing to submit annual statements to the Electoral Commission of SA.
My Vote Counts wants the Western Cape High Court to return the annual R15m limit on donations and for all amounts above R100,000 to be declared. The matter will be heard on Monday.
Also this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet big business and technical experts to try to forge a new era of collaboration to confront barriers to growth in SA.
The meeting on Tuesday, which will include ministers from opposition political parties as part of the government of national unity (GNU), comes after Ramaphosa’s efforts to partner with the private sector went some way to resolving SA’s energy and logistics crisis.
There has also been no load-shedding for about 130 days and container backlogs at SA’s ports have been reduced.
This also comes as those who are part of the GNU continue to take their message to organised business and labour to try to form a social compact that will drive economic growth in the country.
The ANC emerged out of its six-day high-level meeting of its leadership with a renewed determination to fix local government.
Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is expected to step down ahead of an extraordinary council meeting. He is expected to be replaced by the ANC’s Dada Morero, who is now the finance MMC.
The move follows talks between the ANC, ActionSA and Gwamanda’s party, Al Jama-ah. Opposition councillors have called for Gwamanda to step down, arguing he is not suitably qualified to lead the country’s economic hub.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi will finally hold the state of the province address on Thursday. It took some time for him to form a government in Gauteng after the ANC’s devastating loss in the general elections, with the party securing only three in every 10 votes.
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