3 min read
22 September 2022
00:34

The Constitutional Court has confirmed a ruling by the Gauteng High Court judgement that the Executive Ethics Code is unconstitutional and invalid in its current form.

The code, as it stands, does not require members of the executive to disclose donations made to campaigns for their election to positions within political parties.

The investigative journalism unit amaBhungane brought the case. Senior researcher Joel Bregman of the organisation My Vote Counts’ spoke with Radio Islam international.

According to Bregman, the case is quite a long history. Still, the heart of it is that the executive ethics code, which emanates from the executive member ethics act, is now unconstitutional because there is no room for disclosure for its internal party campaigns.

The act speaks about financial interest, but the court found the code itself did not go far enough in prescribing what it needed to be, and up until now, it has excluded contributions for the internal campaign.

“When we talk about why is this important, money and politics are very much in the narrative. We have a political party funding act which regulates private companies, and finally, now, we will have more information about internal battles for people who then become Minister, Deputy Ministers and MECs,” said Bregman.

He said that in his understanding, when people seeking positions in parties and becoming successful and representing their parties in government will now be bound by the code to publish annual interest contributions made to their success for the campaign.

Furthermore, he mentioned that not everyone who contests the position within the party but only those who become Ministers, Deputy ministers and MECs will be bound by the code.

He said that he does not think this will have any bearing on the 2017 Presidential campaign or the ANC’s December elective conference, as it will only be effective in the next 12 months, as this was the period given to the President to ensure the necessary amendments were made.

However, depending on when the law comes into effect, it might impact people who serve the government, but it is still unclear at this stage.

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By Nokwanda Dlangamandla
kzn@radioislam.org.za