ACTIONSA is going to court to stop an attempt to have all donations to parties made public - no matter how small they are.
This comes after NGO My Vote Counts (MVC) filed papers in court seeking, among other things, to remove any disclosure limit for donations received by political parties.
MVC is calling for the scrapping of the requirement that donations under R100 000 do not have to be disclosed and that the maximum allowed donation of R15 million be reduced.
ActionSA said they are in the process of filing papers opposing elements of the litigation launched by MVC. The party said it is the most compliant political party in respect of the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA) and continued to disclose donations and file clean audits.
ActionSA national chairman Michael Beaumont said it has sought to engage MVC on the elements of their litigation, which he said will have a profound and far-reaching negative impact on South Africa's young democracy.
Regrettably, the MVC failed to respond to these requests, he said.
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“It appears that MVC is either ignorant or unfazed about the effect of their litigation on new emerging political parties,” said Beaumont.
He said that papers filed by MVC will serve to "entrench a system of political incumbency in South Africa by disincentivising private fundraising", which he said was the only way by which new parties can compete with established political parties.
He said MVC's papers suggested it was seeking to reduce the funding of emerging parties.
“Many donors choose to donate below the R100 000 disclosure limit out of a real and justifiable fear of experiencing reprisal from the ANC or DA. Removing this disclosure threshold will dissuade many from contributing to new emerging parties like ActionSA and leave such parties to compete with established parties who, despite being in decline as South Africans reject them, continue to award themselves a fortune in taxpayer funding,” he said.
He said ActionSA is not opposed to the principles of transparency behind disclosing party funding and if MVC had the humility to accept invitations to meet with them they would have found an ally.
