MOGOENG CJ
private funding and the likely or actual stance of political parties and independent
candidates on policy matters of importance, does have the predictable effect of
discouraging the pursuit of corrupt or selfish sectarian agendas. And, it also frees our
public representatives to do what they promise and are obliged to do, unencumbered
by potentially corrupt deals that could be enabled by undisclosable private funding. If
secrecy thrives, then our constitutional project would be at risk of being betrayed or
shipwrecked.
The need for access by all key players
[53]
It is now settled that information on private funding is vital for the proper
exercise of the right to vote.
But, not all voters appreciate the need to inform
themselves and make an informed political choice. Predictable hurdles to the free
flow of information on private funding to the broader public, through as many
platforms as possible, must thus be removed. Failure to ease access to information for
all those who could source and impart that information to the broader public would
reduce this judgment to nothing more than a pyrrhic victory for voters. To give
substance to access to this information, clarity is required as to just how reasonably
accessible it is, even to those who do not need it for voting, but for the education of
the voting public.
[54]
Access to public office is a highly contested terrain.
Contestants ought
therefore to have virtually unrestrained access to information on the private funding of
one another. This way they would be able to use it to expose and eliminate corruption
or the appearance of corruption tied up to funding. Similarly, the extensive reliance
on the media by those seeking public office and the voting public, demands that
information on private funding also be availed not only to political players but also to
the media. And not to be left out is the academia. For, the latter are a resource widely
used to either provide political advice or critical political analysis on all forms of
media platforms. To do that, they too need reasonable access to information on the
funding of political players.
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