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Promoting transparency in political finance in southern Africa:
Comparative analysis and findings from Mozambique, Namibia, South
Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Transparency International
- Zimbabwe (TI-Z)
March
08, 2011
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these documents
- Summary
- Acrobat PDF version (1.75MB)
- Mozambique
- Acrobat PDF version (1.02MB)
- Namibia
- Acrobat PDF version (789KB)
- South
Africa - Acrobat PDF version (861KB)
- Zambia
- Acrobat PDF version (990KB)
- Zimbabwe
- Acrobat PDF version (892KB)
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Abstract
Corruption in
politics undermines good governance and the democratic process.
The main threat comes from private interests gaining excessive influence
on politicians by means of campaign donations, or undue lobbying
activities. Furthermore, the misuse of public resources by elected
office holders to gain political mileage also defeats the establishment
of a democratic country. It is against this background that Transparency
International - Zimbabwe (TI-Z) conducted and launched the NURU
Research on “Promoting Transparency in Political Finance in
Southern Africa” on 28 September 2010. The NURU research was
a project that sought to measure the level of transparency in political
financing by looking at laws and practices of selected Southern
African countries and comparing existing systems with international
standards enshrined in the tool used for the research. The NURU
research was conducted in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia
and Zimbabwe. The objective of the project was to increase transparency
in the financing of political parties and election campaigns, and
is premised on the conviction that transparency is the foundation
of monitoring money in politics.
The Nuru Project
assessed the legal frame-work and practices with respect to the
transparency of political finance in a given country. On the basis
of these findings, the research pursued activities that advocate
reforms aimed at improving the law and practise. Resultantly, SADC
countries should adopt reforms that increase the transparency of
election campaigns and of party activities in years when there are
no elections. Some of the overall findings from the research indicate
that:
- Four out
of the five countries studied provide public funding to political
parties, but South Africa is the only country where these funds
are adequately audited by the state supervisory body.
- Private
contributions to political parties are not subject to reporting
and disclosure requirements in all the selected countries
- All the
countries, save Mozambique, do not require parties and presidential
candidates to report on their campaigns.
The Nuru project
borrows from the Crinis Project, which was devised by Transparency
International and the Carter Center to promote transparency and
accountability in political financing in Latin America.
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