Evelyn Groenink
DUTCH do-gooders have run into flak at home for handing out R20-million to South African political parties without any built-in checks and balances on how the money is spent.
The organisation giving the money is the Foundation for the New South Africa (FSA), which is made up of representatives of political parties in the Netherlands. Dutch critics are joined in South Africa by Ivor Jenkins of Idasa and Oscar Dhlomo of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy. “It is extremely dangerous to just give blank cheques,” says Jenkins, emphasising the need for strict criteria and monitoring.
However, a Dutch/South African conference was held last week to decide on “stricter monitoring” of the use of the distributed monies and “to stop funding further projects” if the funds appear to have been spent on other than the stated purposes. The blank cheque system is defended by acting president of the FSA, Klaas Groenveld. “We don’t want to be paternalistic. We will still try to avoid interference. All we want to do is to help our counterparts,” says Groenveld.
Tom Lodge of the Department of Political Studies at Wits University also defends the idea of blank cheques. “If you want to support parties and that is a way to help establish a democracy, then you mustn’t prescribe what to do with the money. If you don’t trust them, you mustn’t give them money in the first place.”