President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, amid criticism from civil society organisations and political parties.

Ramaphosa said that in a year in which voters were presented with the greatest diversity of electoral choice, the legislation “constitutes tangible, material support for a vibrant, competitive, open and equitable electoral system and democratic culture”.

The Bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in March and sent to Ramaphosa for assent and is a sequel to the Electoral Amendment Act that was passed last year to provide for independent candidates to stand for election in Parliament and provincial legislatures.

He explained that the Bill made consequential amendments to the Electoral Act of 1998, the Electoral Commission Act of 1996 and other relevant legislation, which he said arose from the introduction of independent candidates and independent representatives in the National Assembly and provincial legislature.

“In this context, the new legislation provides for independent representatives to receive funds from the Multi-Party Democracy Fund, which is also administered by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC),” he said.

Ramaphosa noted that while the Represented Political Parties Fund was resourced by the fiscus, the Multi-Party Democracy Fund aimed to raise and distribute donated funds from the private sector to represented political parties.

He added that the Fund would now include independent candidates.

Last month, ten opposition parties represented in Parliament petitioned Ramaphosa to not sign into law the Bill, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

The political parties that petitioned Ramaphosa included the African Christian Democratic Party, the African Transformation Movement, the Congress of the People, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Freedom Front Plus, GOOD Party, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the National Freedom Party, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the United Democratic Movement.

The political parties warned that if Ramaphosa assented to the Bill, they would be forced to join civil society, which had already given notice of an intent to approach the courts to oppose this legislation on the grounds of unconstitutionality.

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa also assented to the Second Adjustments Appropriation Bill which provided for a net movement of R290-million across functions and economic classifications in line with the requirements of the State.

He said the Bill provides additional financial support to a number of departments and institutions, including R200-million to the Department of Home Affairs for the purpose of transferring the money to the IEC for the Represented Political Parties Fund.

The aim of the Fund was to provide funding for political parties represented in the national and provincial legislatures, he said.

Ramaphosa highlighted that resources for this fund were provided annually from the National Revenue Fund and were distributed to political parties represented in the National Assembly or in any provincial legislature.