Willing to be transparent? Assessing political parties’ commitment towards regulating party aid in South Africa

Abstract

According to Malena, Brinkerhoff, Post, Raile and Raile the success of a policy is tied to the concept of “political will”. However, as this article argues, this concept is insufficiently understood and this imprecision makes political will the ideal rhetorical tool to explain policy failures, mostly because it is generally defined by its absence. This article, therefore, seeks to understand what constitutes political will within South Africa’s party finance policy system and determine the effect this commitment has on successfully implementing these measures. The article establishes that there is an effort within the country’s national policy framework to manage this flow of money in order to afford greater transparency and restore trust within the political system. However, the willingness of parties to comply with the legislation and the Independent Electoral Commission’s capacity to commit to enforcing its provisions, especially ahead of the 2024 National and Provincial elections, are in question. The article concludes by identifying what can be used to sustain the will needed to enforce such regulatory policy while creating transparency and increasing trust in South Africa’s political system.