COSATU will present its submission on the PAIA Amendment Bill to the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services at 10:30 am tomorrow.

The Federation supports the PAIA Bill and its provisions to bring it in line with the Political Party Funding Act.  The Bill will now extend the scope and requirements for the Promotion of Access to Information Act to political parties receiving public funding. 

This is a further important step in dealing with the cancer of corruption and state capture.  Whilst some nefarious politicians are busy bleating about now having to open their books and accounts to public scrutiny, this, in fact, will help save those very political parties from themselves.  Corruption has no colour nor ideology.

COSATU, however, remains adamantly opposed to the self-defeating provision in the Political Party Funding Act that does not require parties to disclose donations below R100 000.  It will not take a particularly sophisticated crook to realise that he or she can simply make donations below R100 000 and thus escape public accountability.

The federation urges Parliament, in particular, our ANC MPs to be courageous and seize the moral high ground and draft an amendment to the Political Party Funding Act , removing the nonsensical R100 000 threshold for donations.

Failure to do so will be a slap in the face to workers and pensioners who are tired of seeing their hard-earned money looted by an insatiable elite.For further information contact Tony Ehrenreich at 082 773 3194 or Matthew Parks at 082 785 0687