Right2Know Campaign

Endorse the call for party funding transparency and regulation!

by · Published · Updated

R2K has endorsed this letter to South Africa’s major political parties, calling for them to disclose their private donors. (For those seeking to distract from the importance of this call, most if not all organisations on this list publish their sources of funding online. R2K’s is here.)

We call on all progressive organisations to endorse the enclosed letter. The letter challenges political parties to provide a detailed breakdown of all private donations received over the past twelve months (01 March 2013 – 28 February 2014).

The letter provides political parties with two weeks to respond. We will convene a national civil society meeting in mid-April to discuss the responses we receive from political parties and develop a strategy to take the party funding reform issue forward. The meeting is likely to take place in Gauteng (more details available soon).

Please email gsolik@gmail.com confirming your endorsement. Deadline for confirming your endorsement is Thursday 27 March.

**

TO: National Leaders of:
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)
African National Congress (ANC)
African Peoples Convention (APC)
Agang SA
Azanian Peoples Organisation (AZAPO)
Congress of the People (COPE)
Democratic Alliance (DA)
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
Freedom Front Plus (FF+)
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
Minority Front (MF)
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)
United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)
United Democratic Movement (UDM)
CC: Treasurer Generals/Chief of Finance (all parties)

28 March 2014
Dear Mr./Ms.

Does your party support political party funding transparency?

This letter is sent to you by a collective of mass based organisations, civil society organisations and individuals committed to democracy in South Africa.

We believe that all South Africans should actively ensure that the constitutional principles of accountability, transparency and openness become shared values. This is applicable not only to public officials but also to the private sector, civil society and political parties alike.

The secret space between political parties and their private funders is one of the areas most vulnerable to the corruptive influence of money. Ordinary South Africans have no access to information regarding the private individuals, corporations and foreign governments that fund and influence our political parties. What we do know is that such funding shapes our politics and the decisions you make on behalf of the people who will give you a popular mandate on 7 May 2014. It is essential to the effective exercise of those citizens’ right to vote that they be fully informed of how and by whom political parties are funded.

The failure to make such information public is a major source of inequality in South Africa: it entrenches unequal access to power, shapes policies, leads to corruption and empowers the well connected at the expense of the majority. Secrecy breeds corruption and the secrecy surrounding sources of private funding of political parties is no exception.
We need to know that our ordinary ballots will not be outweighed by the bank balances of others whose interests might come into conflict with our own. We need to know that your campaign promises cannot be undercut by the hidden hands of financially influential individuals, corporations or foreign governments. We need to know – and we have a right to know – that our votes count.

As you campaign in the elections we call on you to show South African voters that you are genuinely committed to the Constitutional principles of accountability and transparency by providing us with a detailed breakdown of all private donations that your party received over the past twelve months (1 March 2013 – 28 February 2014). Private donors include individuals, trusts, corporations and foreign governments. Please provide detailed information including the name of the donor and the amount received.

We request that you provide us your detailed written response by no later than 10 April 2014. We will then collate such information and disseminate it to the voting public in an accessible form.

Yours faithfully, the undersigned.

  • Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
  • Awethu! Platform
  • Black Sash
  • Centre for Human Rights
  • Claremont Main Road Mosque Congregation
  • Community Based Development Programme (CBDP)
  • Corruption Watch
  • Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC)
  • Earthlife Africa (Cape Town)
  • Engender
  • Governance Crime and Justice Division at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)
  • Gun Free South Africa
  • Media Monitoring Africa
  • Midrand Solidarity Economy Education Co operations and Communication (MSEECC)
  • My Vote Counts (MVC)
  • Ndifuna Ukwazi
  • New Women’s Movement (NWM)
  • Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC)
  • Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA)
  • Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
  • Rape Crisis (Cape Town Trust)
  • Right2Know Campaign (R2K)
  • SANGONeT
  • SECTION27
  • Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)/ Sisonke Sex Worker Movement
  • Students for Law and Social Justice
  • The Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa
  • The Social Justice Coalition
  • Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme
  • Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)
  • Triangle Project
  • Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM)
  • Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA)
  • Workers’ World Media Productions (WWMP)
  • [FURTHER ENDORSEMENTS TO BE ADDED]

Kindly send your response (and any queries) via e-mail to the following address:
gsolik@gmail.com
Alternative contact details: 083 299 7717 | PostNet Suite #305 Private Bag X3, Roogebaai, 8012

You may also like...