Question NW2698 to the Minister of Finance
19 September 2017 - NW2698
Lees, Mr RA to ask the Minister of Finance
(a) What is the total amount of public funds that have been paid from the National Revenue Fund to (i) political parties, (ii) independent public representatives in local government and (iii) independent election candidates from each sphere of Government (aa) in each of the past three financial years and (bb) since 1 April 2017, (b) what are the details of the methods used to determine the (i) total allocations and (ii) allocations to each political party, independent public representatives in local government and independent election candidates, (c) on what dates were the specified allocations paid and (d) what were the funds utilised for in each case?
Reply:
a) There is no public funding paid directly from National Revenue Fund to Political Parties, Independent public representatives in local government and independent election candidates from each sphere of government. Funds are administered by the IEC and allocated for represented political parties at national and provincial legislatures.
b) The total amount appropriated from 2014/15 to 2016/17 financial years, Represented Political Parties Fund (RPPF) amounts to R383 million administered by the IEC and Parliament appropriated amounts to R1.1 billion. Political party funding through Parliament comes as a transfer made by Parliament.
|
Year |
RPPF |
Parliament |
|
2014/15 |
122 096 000 |
352 173 000 |
|
2015/16 |
127 394 147 |
371 033 000 |
|
2016/17 |
134 480 800 |
385 478 000 |
|
2017/18 |
141 204 000 |
414 438 000 |
In 2017/18 financial year only RPPF and Parliament appropriated amounts to R141.2 million and R414.4 million respectively.
c) The Constitution stipulates the funding for political parties to enhance multi-party democracy and the national legislation provide for the funding of political parties participating in national and provincial legislatures on an equitable and proportional basis. The Public Funding of Represented Political Parties Act 103 of 1997 provides a broad framework for the public funding of represented political parties at national and provincial legislatures. The allocations from the Represented Political Parties Fund (RPPF) are paid to each political parties calculated as follows:
i) Allocating 90% of the total amount of funding available from the Fund during a particular financial year paid proportionally. The proportional allocation is determined by dividing the amount (90% from the total funding available during a financial year) proportionally among the participating parties in any legislative body in accordance with the number of seats awarded to each participating party in the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures jointly.
ii) The remaining 10% of the amount of funding available from the Fund during a particular financial year is paid equitably meaning it is divided equally among the participating parties in the provincial legislatures.
The allocations from Parliament to political parties is provided by Parliament and regulated by Section 34 of the Financial Management of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act of 2009.
d) Funds allocated are transferred quarterly to RPPF and Parliament. Further details on when allocations are made should be obtained from the relevant transferring authority.
e) RPPF funds are allocated to political parties for any purposes compatible with its functioning as a political party in a modern democracy, whereas Parliament allocations are for political party support, constituency support and also for party leadership support. Again further details on what funds are used for can be obtained from the transferring authority and or the annual report of each receiving political party.