REGIONAL and global electoral experiences present a positive link between political parties’ funding and the promotion of multi-party democracy.
Funding for political parties is, among other things, generally credited with discouraging political parties from resorting to unlawful means of mobilising financial resources, encouraging competition and offering the populace genuine options to choose from, and reducing over-reliance by political parties on corporations, wealthy entrepreneurs and other individuals who may end up “owning” the parties or being “kingmakers”.

This funding is even more critical in fragile democracies and weak economies where prospects of securing sufficient funding within the domestic market are very slim. In countries where the ruling political parties have monopoly access to state resources, public funding of political parties ensures that small political parties compete on an almost equal footing with the ruling parties.

In post-colonial Africa, it acts as an antidote against foreign influence in local party politics. Regional experiences suggest that access to funding for political parties remains exclusive as thresholds are too high to be met by smaller political parties. Set thresholds continue to give undue advantage of incumbency and bigger parties.

Thus while the principle of public funding of political parties is not disputed, contested issues are how public funding of political parties can be made to encourage political pluralism and truly democratic practices. There is also debate on what basis should political parties and political candidates be awarded public funding, whether political parties funding should be awarded after or before elections, whether funding should be restricted to mere running of election campaigns. There are also unresolved questions about whether funding for political parties should also be for running normal party business or routine party operations.

There is also much discussion on how political parties benefitting from public funding can be made accountable for the use of taxpayers’ money, whether the public should know the sources of funding of political parties, and whether political parties and candidates should spend as much as they can mobilise in an election campaign, without any limit.

Implied in the above fundamental questions is the need for some form of restriction and monitoring of political parties funding. Regulation of political parties is a global practice, with even all Sadc countries regulating political parties through legislation that lays down registration requirements, conditions for registration or refusal of registration and suspension of registration.

Public funding of political parties in South Africa is managed by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), according to the Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act No. 3 of 1997 and the Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Regulations, 1998. All political parties represented in either the National Assembly or provincial legislatures are entitled to a percentage of the public funding of political parties in any financial year for which they are represented in those legislatures

Public political funding is restricted to certain uses, and must be accounted for by the political party concerned directly to the IEC.

The general consensus is that reasonable limitation on the payment of state funds to political parties encourages serious political contenders but discourages triffling parties from being established solely in order to secure public funding. In Zimbabwe, over the years, there has been a noticeable trend in which small parties emerge during election time and only serve to confuse the electorate by splitting votes. However, if the purpose of such regulation is to control political parties and unduly restrict their right to freedom of association and existence as political parties, then the move can be a recipe for mutual suspicion and distrust which can further poison the political atmosphere.

In Zimbabwe, public funding of political parties was introduced in 1992 with the enactment of the Political Parties [Finance] Act Chater 2: 04 of 1992. Prior to this, political parties had to raise funds through membership dues and contributions, donations (in cash and kind by well-wishers), investments, fund-raising activities and loans. While initially the Act provided for state funding of politcal parties which held a minimum of 15 seats in a 120-seat Parliament (or 12% of the seats), this threshold was repealed in 1997 as currently the threshold for qualification for public funding is 5% of the vote garnered during the previous general election.

The purpose of the law (in both its original and repealed version) is to finance political parties which are represented in Parliament, that is those who will have demonstrated to the electorate that they are a serious party by winning the prescribed minimum number of seats in a House of Assembly.

Under this Act, political parties which qualify for public funding and wish to receive funding in terms of the Act are required to make an application to the Minister of Justice not later than the end of the financial year in which a general election is held. The Act also prohibits political parties, members of a political party or candidates from receiving any foreign donation, whether directly from the donor or indirectly through a third person.

Although the threshold for qualification for public funding has been reduced from 12% to 5% of the vote achieved, smaller parties remain disgruntled about the revised 5% threshold. While the Act provides for regulations to be made by the Minister of Justice prescribing, inter alia, the regulations are silent on the form and manner in which records of donations shall be kept by political parties and the keeping by political parties of proper books of accounts. It is also mum on the audit of the accounts of political parties, and the form, content and publication of statements of accounts by political parties.

Political parties are not required by law to disclose their source of donations or to account for the use of public funds allocated to them under the Act. The Act does not set a limit for donations lawfully received by political parties from private sources.The Minister of Justice has the mandate to publish a notice in the government gazette specifying the total amount of moneys appropriated for all political parties and the amount that shall be paid to each individual political party, and to pay the political parties. The definition of foreign donation which includes donations made by non-resident Zimbabwean citizens raises cause for concern as most countries that prohibit foreign funding do not also prohibit their citizens who are resident abroad from funding political parties in their home countries. (Continued next week)’

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