I told you so, says Richard Calland - political funding sources - SA

The Zuma affair and ongoing controversy over the arms deal reinforced the argument that political parties' funding sources should be made public, Idasa analyst Richard Calland said on Wednesday.

Calland, manager of Idasa's Right to Know programme, was speaking at a Cape Town Press Club lunch. Idasa is about to launch a court bid to force the country's major political parties to disclose their funding sources.

"I think the arms deal case, and now the Zuma case, illustrate ... how business and its hidden hand can operate in a way that taints and contaminates the public policy process," Calland said.

He said secrecy over sources had given big business far too much influence in driving parties' policies, and that if there were more transparency about funding sources, those parties would be more answerable to the electorate.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=19693

America really did a great job as a leader and to set an example for the world. Having laws that political parties must show who's funding them... Then Bush pisses our standing in the world away in 2 years. I honestly think the FULL affects of the Iraq war won't be felts for many years to come.