MOGOENG CJ candidates. But it does seem to require a lot of money to run a successful campaign for public office. [3] That said, not all public office-seekers are adequately-resourced to mount a meaningful campaign for office without external funding. Although the State does provide some financial assistance to political parties for their activities which include campaigns,3 it appears to be a far cry from what is in fact needed to meet the demands of running a proper political machinery or electoral campaign. That inadequacy underscores the need for substantial monetary aid from the private sector or individuals. And that need seems to have birthed another need – the facilitation of the electorate’s access to information on private funding. For, that access— “provides the electorate with information as to where political campaign money comes from and how it is spent by the candidate in order to aid the voters in evaluating those who seek [public] office. It allows the voters to place each candidate in the political spectrum more precisely than is often possible solely on the basis of party labels and campaign speeches. The sources of a candidate’s financial support also alert the voter to the interests to which a candidate is most likely to be responsive and thus facilitate predictions of future performance in office. Second, disclosure requirements deter actual corruption and avoid the appearance of corruption by exposing large contributions and expenditures to the light of publicity. This exposure may discourage those who would use money for improper purposes either before or after the election. A public armed with information about a candidate’s most generous supporters is better able to detect any post-election special favours that may be given in return.”4 3 See section 236 of the Constitution which reads as follows: “To enhance multi-party democracy, national legislation must 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 is the legislation that was passed to provide for the funding of political parties envisaged in section 236. 4 Buckley v Valeo 424 US 1 (1976) (Buckley) at paras 66-7, which is also quoted in the minority judgment of My Vote Counts v Speaker of the National Assembly [2015] ZACC 31; 2016 (1) SA 132 (CC); 2015 (12) BCLR 1407 (CC) (My Vote Counts judgment) at para 42. I inserted the word “public” in brackets to give the quotation a correct South African context. The original word is “federal”. 3