TUESDAY, 4.30PM:
The National Assembly has approved legislation providing public funding for political parties represented in Parliament or provincial legislatures.
The Bill deals with the day-to-day expenses of political parties, not those incurred in fighting elections. Parties not represented like the newly-formed United Democratic Movement will not be entitled to funds, a position which brought an angry attack from the UDM. But African National Congress MP Yunus Carrim pointed out that state funds would be made available via another avenue for parties contesting the 1999 general election.
The Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Bill specifies that allocations be made to each political party according to a formula based partly on proportionality and partly on equity; and that the money be used only “for … purposes compatible with its functioning as a political party in a modern democracy” among them, shaping public opinion, furthering political education, ensuring links between the people and organs of state. It is not to be used for the remuneration of any public official, or for the purpose of establishing a business.
The Bill leaves it to the president to publish the funding formula in the Gazette.