IEC records highest value of donations across all years to political parties

The DA, IFP and Rise Mzansi received the lion's share of political party donations declared between April 1 and June 30. 

In its first quarter disclosure report on party funding released on Monday, the Electoral Commission (IEC) said 14 political parties declared a cumulative amount of nearly R200m.

“The value of the first quarter 2024/25 donation disclosure is comparable to the value of donations declared during the fourth quarter of the past financial year.

“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 commission said. 

Political parties which declared donations during the period under review are:

1. ActionSA — R13,186,000
2. African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)— R240,000
3. ANC (ANC) — R26,015,313
4. Build One SA (BOSA) — R12,877,709.
5. Change Starts Now — R150,000 
6. DA — R56,601,039 
7. EFF (EFF) — R515,313 
8. GOOD — R600,000 
9. IFP — R38,340,000 
10. Independent Civic Organisation of SA (ISANCO) — R100,000 
11. Patriotic Alliance (PA) — R6,649,900
12. Rise Mzansi — R33,895,000 
13. South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA) — R400,000 and
14. uMkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) — R380,555.

The IEC said that while there were few first-time donors during the reporting quarter, a significant number of donors were repeat donors, and many had made significant donations across several political parties.

ActionSA’s two largest donations were from the party’s regular donors, Martin Moshal and Victoria Freudenheim, amounting to R7.5m and R5m respectively.

All of the donations received by ACDP were in monetary terms and from companies associated with mining magnate Patrice Motsepe.   

“Two separate amounts valued at R120,000 each were received from African Rainbow Minerals (Pty) Ltd and Harmony Gold Mining Company (Pty) Ltd, respectively.”

The ANC’s donations included an in-kind donation from MTN of R515,000 made in the form of sim cards, mobile data, minutes and routers for electioneering purposes. The rest of the donations, valued at R25.5m, were received in monetary terms from a variety of donors, some of whom are repeat and regular donors to the party.

“These are the Batho Batho Trust, which donated R15m, the United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) with a donation of R5m, Chancellor House Trust, also with a donation of R5m as well as Discovery Central Services with a donation of R500,000.”

Monetary donations for Bosa were received from two regular donors to a variety of parties — Martin Paul Moshal and Mary Slack. Moshal made two separate donations totalling R11.5m, while Slack donated R1m. The Douw Steyn Family Trust donated R250,000.

Change Starts Now reported a monetary donation of R150,000 from party founder and leader William Rodger Jardine.

“The donation was received on May 25 despite the party having already announced in March of the same year that it would not be contesting the 2024 national and provincial elections.” 

For the second quarter in a row, the DA declared the highest of all donations declared by political parties, with a combination of monetary and in-kind donations.

Two separate donations totalling R8.6m were in-kind donations from Voices of SA 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 biggest chunk of the R48m in monetary donations to the DA came from the three R15m donations by Fynos Ekwiteit, Fynbos Kapital and repeat party donor Jonathan Oppenheimer. 

The EFF reported the in-kind donation valued at R515,313 from MTN. It was in the form of sim cards, mobile data, minutes and routers for electioneering purposes.   

GOOD received a cash donation of R100,000 from Winston Brittow and R500,000 from an entity named “We Are the People”, a voluntary association established to, among others, mobilise citizens to continuously participate in democratic governance and elections. 

The IFP’s individual donations were from Jonathan Oppenheimer (R15m), Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer (R15m), African Rainbow Minerals (R420,000), Harmony Gold Mining Company (Pty) Ltd (R420,000) and Moshal (R7.5m). 

ZAR Empire Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which is owned by PA leader Gayton McKenzie, made the largest donation to the PA valued at R5.1m. 

Rise Mzansi, which declared the third highest donation for the quarter, received donations from five different entities and individuals.

“We Are The People”, a repeat donor to the same party, having donated R15m to the party in the fourth quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, made another maximum donation of R15m in the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. Another R15m was received from Rebecca Oppenheimer, who is a regular donor to different political parties in the country. Three other donations were received from The Tempyr Trust valued at R3.3m, the Zungu Family Trust valued at R320,000 and an individual named Craig Butters valued at R275,000.

The Tempyr Trust is a foreign entity headquartered in Luxembourg. The donation from this entity was used to fund programmes designed to train, upskill, and capacitate party volunteers and agents, including overall voter education.

The commission said the use of this foreign funding was in line with the provisions of the act. 

The MKP received a monetary donation from an entity named the South African Policy Education Initiative, a not-for-profit organisation registered with the department of social development.

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