Between April 1 and June 30, political parties have declared close to R200 million for the first quarter of 2024/25 and the Democratic Alliance (DA) has once again reported the highest donation.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Monday released the latest results which revealed that a total of 14 political parties declared donations, and while there were a few first-time donors, many were repeat donors.
"Totalling a colossal R189,950, 829, this is by far the highest value of donations across all years and quarters since the introduction of the Political Funding Act, as amended," the Electoral Commission said in a statement.
"Furthermore, many of the repeat donors made significant donations across several political parties, targeting mainly new or recently established political parties," the IEC added.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) recorded the highest amount - R56,601,039. Notably, ActionSA reported a donation of R13,186,000 donated by Martin Moshal and Victoria Freudenheim.
"In total, a combination of monetary and in-kind donations valued at R56,601,039 was reported by the party," the IEC said.
It explained that two separate donations totalling R8,601,039 were in-kind.
"These were received from an entity called Voices of South Africa Foundation NPC, which has links with one of the directors of Fynbos Ekwiteit, a regular donor to the DA, Johan Petrus du Pré le Roux," the IEC said.
The first donation of R2,384,163 was received in April 2024 and the second one of R6,216,877 was received very shortly before elections in May 2024.
Several monetary donations valued at R48,000,000 were declared by the DA. Two separate donations of R15,000,000 were received from Fynbos Ekwiteit and Fynbos Kapitaal in April 2024. Additional donation of R15,000,000 was received from an individual and repeat donor to the party named Jonathan Oppenheimer, also in April.
"Two other donations of R2,500,000 and R500,000 were received from SAFDEV SSDC (Pty) Ltd and Discovery Central Services, respectively.
The IEC said the former is a company linked to Hendrik Francois Bekker, a director of Valumax Projects (Pty) Ltd, which from time to time makes donations to political parties itself.
Rise Mzansi declared the third highest donation of R33,895,000.
The African National Congress (ANC) reported funding of R26,015,313 from the Batho Batho Trust, United Manganese of Kalahari, Chancellor House Trust and Discovery Central Services.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) reported a donation of R515,313 in kind received from MTN while Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party reported a donation of R380,555 from the South African Policy Education Initiative, a NPO registered this year.
Political parties that declared and their amounts:
1. ActionSA – R13,186,000
2. African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) – R240,000
3. African National Congress (ANC) – R26,015,313
4. Build One South Africa (Bosa) – R12,877,709
5. Change Starts Now – R150,000
6. Democratic Alliance (DA) – R56,601,039
7. Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – R515,313
8. GOOD – R600,000
9. Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – R38,340,000
10. Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) – R100,000
11. Patriotic Alliance (PA) – R6,649,900
12. Rise Mzansi – R33,895,000
13. South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA) – R400,000
14. Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) – R380,555.
The IEC said a total of R3,127,709 in foreign donations was declared in the reporting period.
IOL Politics