Civil society organization My Vote Counts has expressed concern over the staggering party funding figures released just a week before the May 29 general election.
According to the Electoral Commission's latest party finance disclosure report, 13 political parties declared donations between 1 January and 31 March 2024, amounting to a record R172 million. became. This amount is higher than the total disclosed in all prior quarters and the prior two fiscal years combined.
Statement | Complying with and strengthening the PPFA will move us closer to a politically transparent democracy. These disclosures highlight the need for access to political party funding information, which is critical to determining whether our needs are heard or silenced. pic.twitter.com/p13xcIphqm
— My vote matters 🇵🇸 (@MVC_SA) May 17, 2024
Robin Patensee is a political party finance researcher at My Vote Counts.
“The situation in South Africa is witnessing what happens when private interests are actually able to infiltrate politics, and a lot of money actually moves into politics, which then steers the direction of political interests. “We've seen it move away from the people,” and rather toward wealthy individuals. What we're really concerned about is, if this is a continuing trend and will continue to be, what does that mean for the shape of our politics in the future? is. ”
declared funds
According to IEC, this is the first time this amount has been raised in a single quarter.
“The cumulative quantum declared is a staggering R172 069 959.39. This amount was higher than the total reported quarterly disclosures,” the commission said in a statement.
Up to 13 political parties have formally announced donations, including Able Leadership, Action SA, African National Congress (ANC), African Movement for Change (ATM), Change Start Now and Democratic Alliance (DA). , the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the Independent South. African National Civic Organization (ISANCO), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Rise Mzansi, United Democratic Movement (UDM), Vliheysfront Plus (VF Plus).
Of the political parties, the Democratic Alliance topped the list of donors, with just over R65 million donated by donors including Naspers Limited, Jonathan Ernest Maximillan Oppenheimer and NF Oppenheimer.
Other large donations to political parties came from Main Street 1564 (Pty) Ltd, Martin Moshal, Gap Infrastructure Corporation, African Rainbow Minerals Limited, along with Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited. , two organizations associated with businessman Patrice Motsepe, and Naspers Limited have made significant donations. of R2,000,000.
Change Starts Now (CSN), which was only registered in February 2024, has received over R35 million in donations from three separate donors, namely Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd, Main Street 1564 and Ball Family Trust. Continue with DA.
The IFP received R20 million and the ANC R16 million.
RizeMsansi donated R15 million and ActionSA contributed more than R10 million.
EFF and UDM both received donations of well over R2 million.
There are also two donations from international organizations.
The IEC indicates that one of these was an “in-kind donation” received by the DA.
While the donation in question was made by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), another monetary donation received by the DA came from the Danish Liberal Democracy Program (DLDP), which the IEC says is “Ready to”. It is said that this was done to cover the cost of the title's training program. Governing the Region II. ”
The IEC states that “all foreign donations must be made in a financial year to ensure that no donor exceeds the regulated R5 million per foreign donor per political party and that the funds are used for purposes and functions regulated by law.'' It complied with legal provisions in that it was used.” .