Many large donors may be well intentioned and disposed to the development of democracy – and the contribution by many donors may well be motivated by such intentions. However, a lack of control over the private funding of political parties may allow the wealthy to ‘buy' influence and access through secret donations, drowning out the citizens' voice and undermining the equal value of each person's vote.
South Africa has a powerful range of legal mechanisms to combat corruption, but the lack of regulation in favour of transparency leaves open the back door for organised criminals and rogue business people to effectively corrupt the political process through party donations. As long as the public cannot see the link between donors and political parties, a real threat exists that party funding could become a tool to undermine internal party democracy and the democratic process as a whole.
There are a number of instances of impropriety that have demonstrated that it is unhealthy for a democracy when private fund-raising is allowed to continue unregulated. Examples range from the German Christian Democracy Party (CDU) and its links with French oil giant Elf, to the effect that large corporate interests have had on the war in Iraq (the links between the US Republican Party and large corporations such as Halliburton and others) or the relationship between the Bush Government and Enron.
The USA is an example of a country were campaign finance remains a conduit for influence peddling despite regulation in favour of transparency. This outlines the many challenges South Africa will face to monitor party funding even after the practice is regulated.
Source: Institute for Security Studies
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