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The politics of state resources: Party funding in South Africa EDITED BY KHABELE MATLOSA KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG • OCCASIONAL PAPERS • JOHANNESBURG • MARCH 2004 © KAS, 2004 All rights reserved While copyright in this publication as a whole is vested in the Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung, copyright in the text rests with the individual authors, and no paper may be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission, in writing, of both authors and the publisher. It should be noted that any opinions expressed are the responsibility of the individual authors and that the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung does not necessarily subscribe to the opinions of contributors. Please note that $ refers to US$ unless otherwise indicated. Published by: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 60 Hume Road Dunkeld 2196 Johannesburg Republic of South Africa PO Box 1383 Houghton 2041 Johannesburg Republic of South Africa Telephone: (+27 +11) 214-2900 Telefax: (+27 +11) 214-2913/4 E-mail: [email protected] www.kas.org.za Editing, DTP and production: Tyrus Text and Design Cover design: Heather Botha Reproduction: Rapid Repro Printing: Stups Printing Table of contents Introduction 1 Khabele Matlosa An analysis of the utilisation of state/public resources during elections: 11 A comparative survey of experiences in the SADC region Khabele Matlosa and Kennedy Mbaya The legislative framework governing party funding in South Africa 59 Nico Steytler The use of state resources during elections in South Africa 67 Kennedy Mbaya Public funding regulatory mechanisms to prevent the 91 abuse of state resources Dirk Kotzé Political culture and the public funding of political parties 103 Ebrahim Fakir Conclusions and lessons learnt 117 Khabele Matlosa List of abbreviations 125 Occasional Paper Series 127 Seminar Reports 132 Introduction KHABELE MATLOSA The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) have since November 2003 embarked on a project under the theme: ‘The use of state resources during elections in South Africa: A consensus-building approach to accountability and transparency’. The overall idea behind this project was to investigate the manner in which state or public resources are used during elections in South Africa drawing comparative lessons from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a whole, and to suggest possible reforms with a view to upholding best practices that add value to the country’s democratic governance. The question of exactly how state resources are used during elections tends to trigger much heated debate and controversy throughout the Southern African region in general. The general perception is that during elections the use of state resources can either facilitate or retard the levelling of the political playing field and radically shift the balance of competition, often-times in favour of ruling parties and to the detriment of opposition parties. The primary project goal is to contribute to the establishment of important benchmarks and best practices in the area of state resource usage during elections. This is done bearing in mind continental and regional instruments for advancing and deepening democratic governance. These instruments include the following: Dr Khabele Matlosa is the director for Research, Publications and Information at EISA in Johannesburg, South Africa. 1 2 THE POLITICS OF STATE RESOURCES: PARTY FUNDING IN SOUTH AFRICA • The Draft African Union Declaration on Elections, Democracy and Governance, which states that: “Transparency in government activities, accountability, probity and responsible public administration on the part of governments, respect for social rights, and freedom of expression and of the press, and freedom of association, and assembly are essential components of the exercise of democracy.”1 • The SADC-Parliamentary Forum, Norms and Standards for Elections in the SADC Region, which states that: “In most countries the ruling party and its government seek an unfair advantage over opposition parties through the use of public funds and assets for its political activities, particularly meeting campaign expenses.”2 • The EISA/Electoral Commissions’ Forum (ECF) Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in SADC Countries, which states that: “Not all political parties have access to public resources – governing parties in SADC have an unfair advantage in this area. It is unfair for one party to have exclusive access to public resources for campaign purposes or to further its political ends.”3 The key objective of all three instruments mentioned above is to propose best practices, standards, norms and principles that could be used as guidelines for relevant African states in deepening their democratic processes, including the use of state resources. The main objectives of this project, therefore, are: • to provide data on the use of state resources during elections in the SADC region and to draw lessons for South Africa; • to make an impartial assessment of the use of state resources during elections in South Africa; • to advance specific policy recommendations and benchmarks for best practices in South Africa; • to collaborate with South African stakeholders in government, political parties, media and civil society to play a constructive role in this debate; and • to demonstrate South Africa’s ongoing commitment to democratic consolidation and support for free and fair elections. South African legislation serves to mitigate many possible forms of misuse of INTRODUCTION 3 state resources and the privilege of serving in elected office. For example, asset disclosure legislation is at least partially designed to help steer elected officials off potential conflicts of interest. Furthermore, South Africa, it seems, has a clearly articulated code of conduct for political parties during election campaigns as well as a hard-won track record in ensuring that an impartial environment for electioneering for all political parties exists. South Africa also has specific legislation governing the public funding of political parties (details later) which helps ensure that parties take an active interest in electoral contests and participation in parliament. However, the issue of private donations to political parties still remains the sole preserve of parties and is devoid of a regulatory framework. This is the area that most urgently requires regulation by the state. This project is timely in many ways. First, five countries in the SADC region are due to hold their general elections in 2004. These are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. It is therefore crucial that the debate in this Occasional Paper prompts a rethink regarding regulatory and policy frameworks around the use of state resources in the above mentioned countries in particular. Second, South Africa’s third democratic election scheduled for 14 April 2004 is an important political landmark coinciding as it does with the country’s celebration of a successful decade of stable democracy. This requires that further reforms are thought through carefully as the country enters its second decade of democratic governance. Thus, this project is not only relevant, but, indeed, timely in that it makes a definite contribution to enhanced accountability and transparency in South Africa’s third democratic elections and the governance process during the second decade of democracy. PROJECT METHODOLOGY The implementation involved the following approaches: • Regional comparative research was undertaken by EISA. • Policy dialogue involving a stakeholder workshop. On 27 November 2003, EISA, together with KAS, organised a workshop in 4 THE POLITICS OF STATE RESOURCES: PARTY FUNDING IN SOUTH AFRICA Cape Town. Under the theme ‘The use of state resources in South African elections’, presentations were made on the following topics: • The utilisation of state/public resources during elections: A comparative survey of experiences in the SADC region; • The need for a sound political party funding regulation mechanism that would prevent an abuse of state resources in elections; • South African political culture and the issue of party funding for electoral purposes; and • The current legislative framework that governs public party funding in South African Elections. The workshop drew participants from academic and political institutions as well as from non-governmental organisations. The main aim of the workshop was to generate debate with respect to critical issues that are experienced during elections in terms of the utilisation of state/public resources. The specific objectives of the workshop were: to provide an impartial assessment of, and where relevant recommendations for improving, the use of state resources during elections in South Africa; to provide specific policy recommendations and benchmarks for best practices in South Africa; to collaborate with South African stakeholders in government, political parties, the media and civil society to play a constructive role in this debate and to demonstrate South Africa’s ongoing commitment to democratic consolidation and support for free and fair elections. This Occasional Paper is therefore a by-product of two intertwined approaches, namely: comparative and case study research and a policy dialogue process. By way of introducing the main issues especially with respect to public funding of parties in South Africa, we provide some preliminary thoughts below in order to clear the stage for in-depth discussion later on. PARTY FUNDING: MORE QUESTIONS THAN