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Ruling on party funding paves way for reform of SA’s electoral system
The twin troughs of our democracy for more than two decades were the absence of regulation of party funding, and the electoral system. These factors undermined the premises of our constitutional democracy: "Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters roll, regular elections and a multiparty system of democratic government". Transparency, accountability and the electorate were the victims, while unscrupulous funders and party bigwigs were the beneficiaries. Although last week’s Constitutional Court judgment in My Vote Counts vs Ministers of Justice and Correctional Services and the DA dealt directly with the party funding issue, it has also opened up an opportunity to fundamentally alter the electoral system. The court may well have killed two birds with one stone. Delivering the main judgment, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng traversed the well-known arguments about how secrecy enables corruption, and how "big political campaign funders" are inclined to use money for improper pu...
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