One of new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first hires at Number 10 Downing Street was a chap called Hayden Munro, now Burnham’s political director. The satirical magazine Private Eye pounced like a happy puppy on the appointment. Munro, a New Zealander, had worked for two Kiwi Labour prime ministers and, before Burnham’s call-up, had been working for Arden Strategies in London. Arden was set up by a former UK Labour minister and, said the magazine, “had worked hard to cash in on its links to Keir Starmer’s government, attracting recent clients such as data farm developer Ark Data Centres, IT outsourcer Atos and British Gas owner Centrica”. I spent a long time in the UK and France this winter and had to restrain myself from writing about the turbulence back home as I’m not crazy about critics or commentators living overseas and passing judgment on what happens here. But the only mention of Munro in the UK media I saw was the brief paragraph in a magazine that specialises in mocking conflicts of interest. As opposed to here at home, where in a treacherous interview after being removed as agriculture minister by the new DA leadership, John Steenhuisen “revealed” that former DA leader Tony Leon, who runs a lobbying firm, had used his contacts in the party to access new DA ministers in the government of national unity on behalf of his firm’s clients. It turns out political lobbying is a real thing ― shock horror ― and that people use their political contacts to do it, and where they have none they go out of their way to hire them. The storm the media created here in the wake of the Steenhuisen interview was breathtaking though. I feel for Leon. He’s a vastly positive force in our political life ― sharp, argumentative, deeply well-read and possibly the best networker in the country. Along with two other editors, back in 2010 I watched him work the top tiers of Argentina’s body politic to get us interviews and insights, and he was a sight to behold. It was just a few months after his arrival there as our ambassador, and his reach was already remarkable. Everyone lobbies. Many other South African lobbying or “PR” firms have ministers on speed dial. Big companies appoint people who know ministers as heads of corporate affairs or invite former ministers or their families to sit on their boards of directors. The ANC has been milking business for 30 years one way or another, most obviously by selling gala dinner seats at ministerial or presidential tables. None of this is illegal in the slightest. Journalists who didn’t know Leon ran his own lobbying firm must have been asleep for the past 10 years. He never bribed anyone, nor did he ask for one. But he worked, as do many others, in a completely unregulated field. Big companies appoint people who know ministers as heads of corporate affairs or invite former ministers or their families to sit on their boards of directors. The ANC has been milking business for 30 years one way or another, most obviously by selling gala dinner seats at ministerial or presidential tables. That needs fixing, and the fix is easy ― it’s called transparency. Lobbyists should be registered and their clients disclosed. That may be inconvenient for some, but it’s a small price to pay for the poison that lurks around our politics when it isn’t.The ANC is so chronically mired in conflicts of interest that no-one pays attention much anymore. But the DA is no longer a small party and it needs to up its game. Time and again in the past few months it has had to face accusations of some kind of impropriety and every time its response has been tardy and inadequate. The same thing is happening now with a firm founded by its bright-spark federal finance chair, Mark Burke, under investigation by the Reserve Bank for possibly evading exchange control regulations. It’s been government policy for years to do away with exchange controls, but they’re still there and they’re the law. DA leader and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis first fumbled his response, standing by his colleague, and Burke issued a statement denying culpability.But it was way too early, and Burke’s “guilt” or not is almost beside the point. The point is the statement came two long days after the story broke. Later yesterday the DA said Burke would now step aside from his official roles in parliament while the investigation proceeds. But damage has been done. I’ve written before that Hill-Lewis, who has a day job, needs a dynamic political team around him. Nothing should ever be a surprise.The party needs to demand far greater transparency from its MPs, councillors, officials and leaders. And its funders have got to make sure it smartens up.• Bruce is a former editor of Business Day and the Financial Mail.Business Day