After losing in high court, My Vote Counts turns to ConCourt to fight for tighter political donation rules.
Election watchdog My Vote Counts (MVC) has approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to appeal the high court ruling to dismiss its May 2023 application for it to declare the Political Funding Act (PFA) as unconstitutional regarding political party donation disclosure.
On 21 August, the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town dismissed the MVC application in its entirety.
Regarding MVC’s challenge to the presidential discretion to determine the donation disclosure threshold and the upper limit cap, the court said parliament’s delegation of the power to the president was lawful and the president’s decision on limits was subject to review if it was exercised improperly.
My Vote Counts appeals ruling upholding the Political Funding Act
Also, adequate guidance exists in the political party funding legislation to regulate presidential discretion. The court also said MVC failed to establish facts showing specific infringement of constitutional rights.
The ruling was a slap in the face for MVC. It came three days after President Cyril Ramaphosa decided to double the threshold for disclosure from R100 000 to R200 000 and the upper limit cap from R15 million to R30 million.
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Prior to the proclamation on 18 August to effect the increase, most political parties in parliament supported the increase, with only the uMkhonto weSizwe party, African Transformation Movement, Al Jamah-ah and Build One SA opposing it.
The MVC argued in its application the law was unconstitutional as it permits donations below R100 000 to go undisclosed and it exempted natural persons from the obligation to disclose.
It said the law failed to regulate or limit the cumulative donations from related entities or persons and allows excessive individual donations up to R15 million per year.
Failed to regulate or limit donations
MVC argued that granting the president unfettered discretion was inconsistent with the principle of transparency, openness and accountability contained in the constitution and therefore unconstitutional.
In its appeal application, the MVC will ask the Concourt to compel the president to state the reason for the increase.
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