MVC urged to persist

COURT’S RULING: Transparency necessary to deepen democracy – EE. NGO CALLS ON MY VOTE COUNTS TO CHALLENGE PAIA

Equal Education is disappointed at the Constitutional Court’s judgment this week in an application brought by an organisation called My Vote Counts (MVC) for the right to know who funds political parties.

The non-governmental organisation said yesterday that it commended the minority judgment of Justice Edwin Cameron, which held that political parties occupy a unique place in the multiparty democracy and information on party funding was not essential for the exercise and protection of the right to vote.

“But we think the transparency is a necessary step to deepen democracy. We believe donations to political parties are often made in order to secure influence over policy – and this should not happen behind closed doors,” the organisation said.

MVC had asked the Constitutional Court to compel parliament to pass legislation obliging political parties to reveal the sources of their donations, arguing the constitutional right to access to information demanded this.

Parliament opposed the application saying there was no need for new legislation as the information could be requested in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). MVC had raised concerns about shortcomings in the law.

The majority judgment held that the organisation should have directly challenged the constitutional validity of the legislation, and that its chosen route of demanding parliament to pass a new legislation was flawed. Equal Education said it encouraged MVC to exhaust every legal avenue. –