Political parties should be funded equitably by the state and private companies, Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said on Wednesday.
”Fifty percent of the funds should be allocated on an equal basis to all political parties,” De Lille said in a speech prepared for delivery at a meeting on party funding in Cape Town.
”The other 50% should be allocated according to their parliamentary strength,” she said.
The event, hosted by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), is dubbed The Horns of a Dilemma — Finding Solutions 10 Years on.
De Lille said members of her party felt that the ”best way to level the playing field is in fact not to simply concentrate on funding but on spending.
”The ID believes that a cap should be placed on election spending, such that no party can spend more than an amount of R10-million during their election campaign,” she said.
It was ”completely immoral” for political parties to be spending upwards of R20-million and in some cases even R100-million on publicising its message when poverty levels in the country were so high.
”By placing such a cap on election spending, our elections will become more about the message of political parties rather than their ability and resources to publicise it.”
Idasa has taken several political parties in the country to court in a bid to force them to reveal private donors of funds.
De Lille said: ”The ruling party has an unfair advantage in that it holds the levers of power and has influence over the awarding of government tenders.
”This is not to claim that individuals or corporations simply buy these tenders in a straight transactional deal, but certainly donating money to the ruling party will make them consider these entities more favourably,” she said. – Sapa