Additional NPC Documents

Additional discussion documents: POLITICAL FUNDING AND ANC FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

10. We should propose caps on private donations at levels to be determined and private dona tions should be declared publicly if the donors so wish. Certain kinds of donation could be capped such as foreign donations, trade union donations, donations from state-owned enterprises, donations from parties that do business with the state. 11. Donations to political schools and policy research institutes could be encouraged through tax incentives. Such incentives could also be used to encourage general donations to support democracy which would be routed through the existing Represented Political Parties Fund. 12. Funds raised through bodies such as the Progressive Business Forum within the limits set above would be declared. We believe this initiative would allow the ANC to receive sig nificant support from donors and to do so in a transparent and honest way. 13. Public funding could be significantly in creased and fair funding formulas considered to strengthen the smallest parties. It is im portant that the smaller parties support us in these reforms. 14. Free public broadcasting and advertising in the public broadcaster could be introduced together with caps on advertising expendi ture. A new body could be created through legislation to oversee donations and declara tions or this process could be administered by the IEC. 15. Donors at all levels would become known to the public and also to party officials. This would facilitate changes to the management of money within our parties. Reform options for money flows inside politi cal parties 16. We must respect the voluntary and asso ciational character of parties. It is not sen sible for the state to intrude too much in the internal operations of our parties. We must propose that parties must develop their own internal codes for the self-regulation of money flows, within the scope of the proposed legis lation. 17. In the ANC, agreement will have to be reached about the levels and sites at which fund raising is permissible. Lower level struc

tures should receive a fair share of public funds. Where private fund raising occurs at lower levels it will be made transparent under formal donation regulations. 18. It is to be anticipated that such codes and declarations will help to stabilize internal poli tics at all levels by reducing the opportunities for vote-buying and war-chest accumulation. ANC members who are able to donate money will be expected to do so at the level of their ability. This will be facilitated by greater trans parency. 19. All donations – at whatever level of the ANC – will have to be recorded. Details of such donations will therefore be available to the Treasurer General’s office and to the NEC, as well as the proposed oversight institution(s). Rules/legislation on lobbying will prohibit the offering of monetary and other ‘incentives’ for support (this will become a disciplinary of fence). million is sitting on a potential gold/platinum mine. Therefore, the following questions beg for answers: a) To what extent can the ANC ‘mine’ the potential of its one million members? b) What role, besides subscriptions and contributions can members play to en hance our kitty? 21. Currently the ANC levies a monthly fee from members as membership ‘renewal’ fee. This source of revenue is premised on the lowest denominator, being the lowest income pos sible income level of its members. For the ANC to be financially self-sustainable the ANC must take full advantage of the quantity of its membership and design a membership form that speaks to the monthly contributions of members. 22. This source of revenue is applicable to differ ent avenues of funding and also to participa tion by various players including members and donors. It is in this area of revenue generation that the ANC has an opportunity to increase its funding. There is a need to leverage on the quantity of our membership encourage our members to contribute a cer tain percentage of their income, i.e 3% to the Members Contribution 20. Any organisation with a membership of one

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