Tight sequencing of a parliamentary resolution, presidential regulations and a presidential proclamation to operationalise the Electoral Matters Amendment Act must occur before 29 May to ensure the integrity of South Africa's political funding disclosure regimen and the elections.

It's an all-in legislative package. If one step falls, the whole sequence falls and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will be left dangling just ahead of the general election.

The Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, a cover-all law of various consequential legislative amendments, brings independent candidates into the political funding disclosure regimen. The IEC is on public record saying this law must be in effect before the general election on 29 May. Without it, electoral and political donations declaration systems are at risk.

Parliament passed the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill in March. On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on it, and on Wednesday took the next step to proclaim its commencement date for 8 May.

This has messed up the sequencing and introduced risk to the accountability and transparency of the party political funding declaration regime.

Because the Electoral Matters Amendment Act is now in force, no longer applicable are the political funding disclosure threshold of R100,000 and the annual R15-million donation cap for an individual or entity. That's because the Act requires the President to gazette regulations on those thresholds and caps -- but Ramaphosa can't do so without a resolution of the House.

And that...