Once the principle of public funding is accepted, then it begets the question of accountability for those taxpayers funds. Political parties, to the extent that they perform a socially desirable function in a democratic system, must be required to account publicly for the sources and uses of not only public funds obtained, but other sources of funding as well. This is meant to ensure public knowledge of all contributions large enough to have a significant influence on party policy. Germany goes further by requiring that the internal organisation of political parties “conform to democratic principles.” In South Africa, the rights in respect of free political participation are not absolute. In terms of the Electoral Law, no political party may participate in an election unless it is registered as a political party and in order to register, a party must supply various particulars and a deposit must be paid. Further, inside the legislature itself, the rules of procedure in terms of the South African Constitution must provide for financial and administrative assistance to parties in parliament to enable them to perform their functions effectively (Rautenbach and Malhembe 1999, 136). In national legislation, provision must also be made for the funding on a proportional basis of political parties that participate in national and provincial legislatures. This is consummated in the Public Funding of Represented Political Parties which created a fund for party funding of only those parties represented in the National Assembly or provincial legislature. In Canada, one response to the traditional techniques of party finance was the passage of the Election Expenses Act in 1974 which not only regulated party fundraising activities but also provided public subsidies for election expenses. One significant requirement of the Act is that the parties have to file an annual financial report with the Chief Electoral Officer. In addition to requiring an annual report, the Election Expenses Act puts a ceiling on the amount of money that parties and candidates can spend; it provides for the disclosure to the sources of party and candidate incomes; grants subsidies for candidate expenses and party media advertising; and establishes a tax credit for people contributing to party funds (Landes 1983, 281). The effectiveness of this Act in curbing some of the undesirable party financing practices was open to challenge. First was that the limits to party and candidate expenditures were set relatively high. In other words, the ceiling was set so high that no party could reasonably exceed it and as such, the legislation did not really curtail party spending in campaigns. A second defect concerned the amount of individual contributions: any donation of over C$100 must be disclosed, but no limit was put on how much can be given. Thus, the financial dependence on small groups of financial backers and donors was not greatly diminished. Third, the enforcement provisions for violations of this Act were weak in that it was up to the public or the various parties to lay complaints with the Chief Electoral Officer. Given these limitations of this 1974 Act, the traditional pattern of party finance remained largely in place, with public funding grafted on. The chief critique of this Act then was that it provided a legal way of raiding the public treasury without either curbing traditional patterns of party financing or giving the public control over the area of party finance. In the United States, disaffection with the manner in which electoral campaigns were funded led to reforms in the 1970s. These reforms sought to put more effective limits on contributions and spending for both individual candidates and parties. In a major departure from past practice, the USA in 1974 adopted provisions for the public financing of presidential election campaigns. Under the reform, a party’s presidential nominee who accepted public money was prevented from obtaining private donations for general election expenses. Another major reform concerned the development of political action committees (PACs). PACs may be formed by any group to support a particular cause, candidate, or party and they have become a major source of political funding in the American system. Foreign Donations as Source of Party Funding 13