There has been a ”wall of silence” from political parties in response to a request for them to disclose their private donors, researcher Richard Calland said on Thursday.
Private companies had mostly been equally reluctant to reveal which parties had received money from them, he told a two-day discussion in Centurion which is being held under the theme ”where money meets politics, organised by the Institute for Security Studies, the Institute for Democracy in SA, the Black Sash and the SA Council of Churches.
Gencor was the first and only big listed company to come clean, disclosing that it had given about R1,3-million to the New National Party (NNP) and the Democratic Party (DA) over a four-year period.
Calland is spearheading an initiative by the Institute for Democracy SA (Idasa) to obtain details of private funding for political parties by using the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
Idasa requested the information under the Act from all 13 political parties represented in Parliament, as well as from the top 13 companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange.
Calland, head of political monitoring at Idasa, said: ”From the political parties there has — perhaps unsurprisingly — been a wall of silence.”
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) wrote a ”rather polite” letter in response, saying the party was not a recipient of big donations.
”There was (also) a polite one-liner from the Federal Alliance, acknowledging the request. From the others, nothing,” Calland said.
Gencor told Idasa that it gave R500 000 to the NNP in September 1994, R150 000 to the DA in October 1995, another R150 000 to the DA in September 1997, R125 000 to the NNP in January 1998, and R250 000 to the DA in July 1998.
Calland said Johann Rupert, chairman of Richemont, sent him an e-mail within 24 hours of receiving the request.
Rupert explained his company’s policy since 1988 was not to make any private donations to political parties.
Calland said the respondents had, under the Act, 60 days to heed Idasa’s request. Failure to do so would amount to a contravention of the Act and the high court could then be approached to deal with the matter.
”If necessary, that is obviously the step we will take,” Calland said. ”We are in this for the long haul and we are ready to litigate the matter.”
He lauded Gencor for its rapid and candid reaction, saying the company obviously concluded the open approach was the appropriate route.
”One can surmise they think that openness is better than secrecy, and that they will not be punished for revealing that they have made donations to … opposition parties.”
It was not clear whether Gencor’s decision had been influenced by the new coalition between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the New National Party (NNP), Calland said.
He contended Gencor’s move had largely pierced the argument that openness about private funding would mean the end of donations to opposition parties, because companies would fear retribution.
”I am confident and hopeful that many of the other companies we have made requests to will adopt a similar approach,” Calland said. – Sapa