By Ebi Kesiena
President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially signed the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill into law, marking the final step in implementing this month’s elections.
The primary purpose of the bill is to regulate donations to independent candidates in the same manner as political parties and to ensure they will also benefit from state and other funding upon assuming office.
However, the bill also introduces a temporary loophole by lifting the restriction on the amount of funding political parties can receive from donors and eliminates the requirement for them to disclose such donations.
Also, the Electoral matters amendment bill modified the Political Party Funding Act of 2021 by abolishing the previous yearly cap of R15 million on external funding for political parties. Additionally, it eliminates the R100,000 threshold for reporting donations.
Under the new legislation, the president gains the authority to establish a new funding limit and reporting threshold, but only under the direction of Parliament.
Furthermore, the bill stipulates that independent candidates elected to legislatures will be eligible to receive funding from the multi-party democracy fund, which is supported by private donations and managed by the Electoral Commission (IEC).
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In conjunction with this bill, President Ramaphosa has also approved the Second Adjustments Appropriation Bill, allocating an additional R200 million to represented political parties for campaigning in the upcoming elections.
President Ramaphosa emphasized that these legislative changes aim to provide tangible and substantive support for a dynamic, competitive, transparent, and fair electoral system.
General elections will be held in South Africa on 29 May, 2024, to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces.
This will be the seventh general election held under the conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994.
