wishing to receive funding shall apply to the Minister, and the Minister pays the political parties if they are eligible for funding. This is clearly undesirable because the Minister of Justice is an interested party; the Minister is a competitor. The Minister is involved in too many issues pertaining to public funding of political parties and could easily act in a manner that favours his/her own party and that is biased against other parties. 4.3. Registration of Political Parties In many countries where there is political pluralism, the law, especially the constitution, will recognise the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly and speech. People are therefore free to form or join political parties of their choice, and the political parties themselves are free to run their affairs, conduct their activities and generally to exist and operate as they see fit. It is quite common that political parties will be regulated by the law, and may even have be required to register in order to operate lawfully as political parties. They is nothing wrong per se with the regulation of political parties, especially where such regulation does not unduly restrict the enjoyment of the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly and speech. Masunungure aptly concludes that when done in good faith, that is ‘without ulterior and sinister motives’, party regulation (and this includes the registration of political parties) “promotes transparency and democratic accountability to the public, curbs corrupt practices and provides for penalties for breach of the regulations”. However, if the purpose of such regulation is to control political parties and unduly restrict their right to freedom of association and existence as political parties, then the move can be “a recipe for mutual suspicion and distrust which can further poison the political atmosphere”49. . In the SADC, almost all countries regulate political parties and have a requirement for registration. In Angola political parties must be registered with the Constitutional Court/Supreme Court. Botswana requires political parties to be registered in accordance with the Societies Act, by the Registrar of Societies. Like Botswana, the registration of political parties in Zambia is governed by the Societies Act, which provides for the registration of parties with the Registrar of Societies. Similarly, the registration of political parties in Lesotho is governed by the Societies Act. Political parties must register with the Registrar General while they must register with the Independent Electoral Commission to participate in an election. In the DRC, political parties are registered with the Minister of Home Affairs. In Malawi, the registration of political parties is governed by the Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act, which requires registration with the Registrar of Political Parties. Tanzania also provides for the registration of political parties with the 49 Masunungure, op cit, p.3. 19