Transparency is good, but what the ANC might do with it isn’t. The High Court in Cape Town has ruled in favour of the My Vote Counts campaign and ordered Parliament to make provision in the next 18 months for political parties to publicly disclose private funding. However, this increased transparency may have unintended consequences. In well-established democracies increased levels of transparency are to be welcomed. Requiring political parties to disclose who their private donors are is good for accountability because it enables voters to judge what vested interests political parties may have. Yet in a democracy that is marred by corruption, state capture and patronage, this court ruling may in fact damage opposition parties. Private donors who donate to opposition parties may find themselves overlooked for government contracts or saddled with unfavourable legislation. Opposition parties rely on additional funding from private interests as the Represented Political Parties Fund pro...
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