On 21 January 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Political Party Funding Act. The law will come into effect on 1 April 2021. 

Under this law, political parties with seats in Parliament will get some operational funding from the state in support of their parliamentary work. Moreover, the law will make it mandatory for political parties to disclose private funding support, while also prohibiting funding from foreign governments, private persons, or state agencies. 

The act, furthermore, highlights that any political funding must be for the support of political activities and not for the enrichment of political individuals. 

There is no doubt that this law was needed as a response to the daily revelations of how money has been used to unduly influence political actors and parties in the name of gaining political influence over politicians. 

The years of state capture have challenged the foundations of South Africa’s constitutional order and raised questions on how the will of the people can come second to the needs of a few elite members of society. It is not a unique challenge to South Africa but many democracies around the world. 

In the United States, for example, the power of the Gun rights lobby organisations in using their monetary muscle to stifle much-needed gun reform has seen the rights to life and security play second fiddle to the rights to bear arms. This was very visible in the Obama years, where incident after incident of mass gun violence saw most Americans seeking gun reform, yet Congress (mainly the Republicans) would block any legislative attempt to do just that. 

Back home, while South Africans elect the political parties they seek to represent them in national, provincial, and local government, it appears that the power to influence economic and social policy lies in the hands of a few and this has meant that while the language of rich is a chequebook and the only language by which the poor can access elective representatives is the language of violent protest. It amazes me how the middle class and the rich will bemoan the poor for such tactics, while they exclusively enjoy the advantages of a corrupt political game, where money sets the terms of engagement. 

In many ways, while every five years of elections may be a key signal of a strong democracy, this is rather a facade, where true political powers to hold elected officials lie in the hands of those who have the means. This may explain in part the political paralyses that have hindered the ANC from taking on corrupt political figures in its rank and more so, from pursuing politics that would truly break the back of poverty. 

Perhaps I am being unfair in my analyses and rather the issue is that the toxic relationship between capital and political power in South Africa predates our democratic dispensation. After all, Apartheid South Africa only fell once the financial taps were closed by both domestic and international capital in the 80s and as much as 1994 saw a new black leadership get the keys to the Union Building and 90 Plein Street, JSE, and other institutions of capital continued to shape economic policy indirectly to the detriment of a more aggressive economic reform programme (critics of GEAR would probably agree).

One thing is for sure, while this act is an important step, it alone will not resolve the toxic relationship between the state and capital. After all, we are still feeling the ramifications of state capture that lead to an approximately R1Trillion to the economy in the past 11 years. The loss to the economy is felt worst by the poor, who are made poorer by the less fiscal funding for a better healthcare system, education, social, and infrastructure spending. 

As it stands currently South Africa’s expanded unemployment rate stands above 40% and youth unemployment above 60%. This economic situation is not viable and poses the single greatest threat to our democratic order. Rather than criticise the poor for violent protest, we ought to focus on how to fight the violence of poverty poses on the masses of our people. We ought to remember the purpose of the struggle. It is a purpose that did not envision economic liberty for the few but all our people. 

Moreover, it is a struggle based on the need to restore the human dignity of our people, a human dignity we yet to restore as millions continue to suffer the greatest injustice of a lack of opportunity to live to their fullest potential and realise their dreams under the collective of the South African dream as spoken through the ages by our forefathers!