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The ANC wants to expand its revenue sources by encouraging millions of its ordinary members to make regular pledges from as little as R50 or more.
The party’s new option to raise funds would involve regular pledges from more than 1 million members in the hope that it would soon be less vulnerable to the threat of state capture that can come with over dependence on big business for its livelihood.
The mooted change was expected to limit the party’s longstanding dependence on funding from business people who sometimes have an interest in lucrative government contracts.
The approach was inspired by the Turkish governing party’s fundraising model, which ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete heard about last week when they, with other high-ranking party officials, visited the European country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The ANC plans to ask its ordinary members to make pledges of R50 or R100 monthly to try to prevent businesspeople from capturing the party again, said a member.
Business people have been the most loyal funders of the ANC.
With 989 736 last recorded members in 2017, the party can make an easy R49 486 800 monthly if members pledged the minimum R50.
Some ANC leaders have previously raised concerns about how the controversial Gupta family allegedly influenced former president Jacob Zuma’s key decisions, including Cabinet appointments.
Read: Parliament approves bill forcing political parties to reveal donors
A national executive committee (NEC) member, who was part of the delegation to Turkey, told City Press last week that AKP did not rely on funding from business people or influential people who could capture it.
“In Turkey ordinary members make pledges to their party. We want to look at it. If ordinary members make pledges of R50 or R100 to the party it would help us to sustain it,” the NEC member said.
Political party funding from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) alone was not enough, given the responsibilities and liabilities of the ANC, he said.
“As the ANC, besides having a head office, we have nine provincial offices and 53 regional offices. We have parliamentary constituency offices in each municipality. Running all those offices with political party funding will not be enough. It is going to be important for our members to make a contribution to assist their organisation.”
The latest development comes barely a few weeks after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill to regulate public and private funding of political parties ahead of the general elections in May.
According to the bill, a donation of less than R100 000 doesn’t need to be declared and a party may not accept a donation “that it knows or ought reasonably to have known, or suspected, originates from the proceeds of crime and must report that knowledge or suspicion to the IEC”.
The ANC, the biggest party in terms of seats in Parliament, receives the lion’s share from the Represented Political Party Fund, which is administered by the IEC.
The ANC received R83 580 697 million, followed by the DA with R30 476 476 and the EFF with R11 401 684 for the financial year ended on March 31 last year.
City Press has learnt that the ANC wants to follow Turkey’s education model by introducing vocational schools at institutions of higher education.
“Other things they [the Turks] have done effectively is their education model. Every university has a vocational school which trains basic life skills. They even train people on forex trading. We are serious about educating young people by providing skills that which are relevant for the economy,” said another NEC member.
The ANC wants to invest in manufacturing and the ocean economy.
“Those people [the Turks] are focused in terms of growing their country. They focus on industry and the ocean economy which they are doing effectively,” the NEC member said.
Magashule said their meeting with the AKP was to establish relations and understand world politics – from their perspective.
“We wanted to get to know each other and try to work together in the politics of the world. They support Venezuela and, like the ANC, they respect the sovereignty of any other nation,” he said.
Magashule said the ANC and AKP clearly understood there was a need to work together and to ensure there was peace in the world.
He said a return visit was planned when “we will see how we can work together to build a better world”.
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