Restoring the independence of civil society requires a firm separation between the state and its supposed watchdogs. Taxpayer money must never be used to finance lobbying.
You have no idea how much this issue bothers me, it's not just our government, NGO's should also not take money from foreign governments to lobby our government. I do support the requirement to declare all government funding (foreign and domestic), but only if the NGO will be involved in lobbying/public policy commentary. The EU is one government that spreads a lot of bad ideas in foreign countries through NGO funding, also the US and others.
Just think about the national security implications of GFSA lobbying, if I wanted to invade your country, I'd fund an org like GFSA to advocate for disarming peaceful citizens. The SANDF is a non-entity, I know that my biggest challenge would be the people who stopped the KZN riots.
It is one area where you can probably find common cause with people across the political spectrum (the socialist anti-imperialists, the conservatives and the nationalists all have similar concerns).
You have no idea how much this issue bothers me, it's not just our government, NGO's should also not take money from foreign governments to lobby our government. I do support the requirement to declare all government funding (foreign and domestic), but only if the NGO will be involved in lobbying/public policy commentary. The EU is one government that spreads a lot of bad ideas in foreign countries through NGO funding, also the US and others.
Just think about the national security implications of GFSA lobbying, if I wanted to invade your country, I'd fund an org like GFSA to advocate for disarming peaceful citizens. The SANDF is a non-entity, I know that my biggest challenge would be the people who stopped the KZN riots.
It is one area where you can probably find common cause with people across the political spectrum (the socialist anti-imperialists, the conservatives and the nationalists all have similar concerns).
An excellent and helpfiul piece. Thank you.