Despite being in the dark about how parties are economically managed, RA’EESA PATHER discovered many Capetonians feel political funding can go a long way in determining where their vote goes.
Clairene Williams, 37, Greenpoint
I don’t know who funds them, but yes, it is important to know where the money comes from. It affects who I vote for because there is so much corruption in politics, so I would feel that I’m perpetuating the corruption if I vote for that party.
Sakeena Damon, 26, Mitchell’s Plain
I’m not sure who funds them. We need to know who provides for these parties. It is important. If someone unethical funded a party, I wouldn’t vote for them. I don’t want to vote for immorality.
Keegan Bennett, 24, Strandfontein
I have no idea actually who funds them. Us? Maybe the taxes? We need to know who funds them. We must know where they are getting their money from and how they are getting it. I don’t think the money makes a difference. I know who I’m voting for. I’ll still vote for the DA regardless of where they are getting their money from.
James Petersen, 32, Observatory
Who funds political parties? Um, I imagine we do. I would imagine that the ruling party obviously gets fund through taxes and all that sort of thing, so I’m not too sure where all the other parties get their funds from. I’m sure there’s an allocated amount for all the leading parties so they can draw from that and spend it as they choose. I guess knowing about funding in general is important. Knowing where money goes and where money is spent is important to everyone because it’s all our community, our city, our money really. If the party was funded by something morally abhorrent or something that I didn’t agree with, I think it would be quite difficult to vote for that party. I suppose it’s all about whether you agree the means to an end. The end justifies the means. But I would think that if it was funded by something I didn’t believe in I wouldn’t go through with it.
Wesley Boer, 26, Milnerton
No idea! Us? Our tax money supplies their things. It would be important to know that, because you’d want to know what’s going on. I’ve never voted before. I’m not interested in the political things of this country. I’m planning on leaving soon, hopefully to somewhere like Brazil.
Wilhelmina Petersen, 43, Mitchell’s Plain
I would say the private sector, people that have something to gain out of it like tenders or that type of things. Definitely you need to know who funds them. You know, like these times, you have all these companies just starting up that gets tenders from 28 million, 35 million and they’ve never worked a day in their life. It’s like who knows who in the zoo. To a certain extent yes, the funding impacts my vote. If it’s someone that has crooked ways I wouldn’t vote, because that is for their own personal gain.
Aluta Ndiko, 20, Kuils River
Oh my God. I don’t know. Isn’t it like government or something? I don’t think it’s really important to know, it doesn’t affect me in any way. No, it won’t affect who I vote for.
Name withheld, 40, Athlone
Corporate, the big companies, people with the money funds them. It’s important to know who funds them so people can know what’s happening with the tenders and stuff. Some people who fund political parties, they tend to win tenders as well. It impacts me a lot because the money’s being spend only by rich people, and it’s not spent around the working class. There a lot of crookery going around the government. For me personally, government are the biggest crooks and the head of the government, that’s the number one crook. If you look at what’s happening now, the corruption where he allows people to come land in a military base. That’s people funding the ANC party and that is where all our money is going.
