Democracy & Social Justice

The negative impact of unregulated private funding of political parties in South Africa stretches back to the period prior to the inception of democracy in 1994.  Although on the 23rd of January 2019 President Ramaphosa signed into law the Political Party Funding Act (The Act) that provides for the regular and systematic disclosure of the sources and amounts of private funding allocated to political parties, South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) decided to postpone its implementation until after the May elections. In the absence of an effective party funding transparency disclosure regime that enables an informed vote, this research compiled by My Vote Counts (MVC) collates historical and publicly available information on the private funding of political parties through donations and/or other financial transfers.

While most political parties are now focusing on the big cities, what do the elections look like from a rural perspective? My Vote Counts spoke to a resident of Eshowe in KwaZulu Natal to hear from him how the Eshowe community experiences South Africa's democracy, if they feel included at all and what they think about elections.

South Africa is one of the many modern constitutional democracies where the internal organisation of political parties is not regulated according to internal party democracy or intra-party democracy (IPD) provisions. Consequently, over centralisation and the abuse of power within the country's political parties is a systemic problem, and one which has significant ramifications for democracy both during elections, as well as between them. This original research by My Vote Counts (MVC) sheds light on parties' processes and policies and aims to inform future decision making on the subject.

Using an intersectional feminist framework, the Women and Democracy Initiative (WDI) analysed both the manifestos and track records of the country's three leading parties, alongside that of Women Forward (WF), a small women-led party contesting the elections for the second time. The analysis considers not only what these parties say on issues commonly labeled as ‘women’s', but also applies a feminist lens to the parties approaches to unemployment, wages, land and home ownership, social security, education and health. Grandstanding on gender during elections is the norm, with parties often taking the over-promise and underdeliver route. This analysis can serve as a feminist barometer on how parties act on these promises after elections.

The fifth episode in an 8 part podcast series investigating Dulcie September’s life and assassination. For almost two decades starting in the 1970s, the South African embassy in Paris was the centre of a large-scale sanctions busting operation. It was connected to the arms dealers, spies and banks that formed part of the arms money machine. In episode five of They Killed Dulcie, we find out if this top secret operation was connected to the murder of Dulcie September.

April's Household Affordability Index finds that government's decision to introduce zero-ratings (VAT exclusions) on basic products has had no impact on the food baskets of struggling South African households.

Without the help of European banks, the apartheid government would not have been able to buy arms and continue its campaign of violence and oppression. Between 1977 and 1994, countless people lost their lives while the banks essentially profited from their deaths. What can be done to hold the banks accountable for their role in supporting apartheid? For the past 12 months, HBF partner Open Secrets and CALS have pursued justice in Europe, only to find that some of these banks have infiltrated the very mechanisms meant to investigate them.