Only three parties declared donations to IEC after elections

Only three political parties declared donations to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) after the 29 May elections.

On Thursday, 28 November, the IEC published the second quarter political funding disclosure report for the financial year 2024/2025. The report covers the period of 1 July to 30 September 2024, the period after the national and provincial elections.

ANC, DA AND IFP ARE THE ONLY PARTIES THAT DECLARED DONATIONS TO IEC

According to the IEC during this quarter, political parties declared a cumulative amount of R8 554 213.

The Commission said this is the second lowest amount ever declared after the amount of just below R6 million that was declared during the fourth quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year.

“Three political parties made donation disclosure during the reporting quarter. The last time such a number of parties made a donation disclosure was during first quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year, which was also the first ever disclosure under the new Act,” the IEC said.

The following parties made donations disclosure:

• African National Congress (ANC) – R7 212 500
• Democratic Alliance (DA) – R1 127 923
• Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – R213 790

WHO DONATED THE BIGGEST AMOUNT?

African National Congress (ANC) – The IEC said the highest value of donations was declared by the ANC at R7 212 500. This amount is comprised of three separate donations of received from two different companies, namely; Valumax Projects (Pty) Ltd and SAFDEV SSDC (Pty) Ltd. The former made two separate donations of R1 092 500 and R120 000 in the month of July 2024 while the latter made a single donation of R6 000 000 in September 2024.

The IEC said both Valumax Projects and SAFDEV SSDC are companies owned by property development industrialist, Hendrick Francois Bekker. These companies are not first time donors to political parties as they have both previously donated to other political parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Democratic Alliance (DA) – The Democratic Alliance (DA) declared the second highest donation valued at R1 127 923. DA’s donations were received from two donors, one of which is the party’s regular donor, one of which is the party’s regular donor, Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF). The other donation was received from an individual by the name of Mr J Scheckter with a monetary donation of R234 684. This donation was made in July 2024.

FNF made two separate donations of R189 239 and R704 000. The former was an in-kind donation made in the form of payment towards invoices for “Induction to Parliament Process Training for DA members of parliament”.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – The third and lowest donation was declared by the IFP at R213 790. The donation was received from a donor by the name of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) NPC. The donation was in-kind in the form of payment towards conference fees, accommodation an honorarium for a workshop to support the training of IFP members employed in the national, provincial and local spheres of government. KAS NPC has previously made similar donation to the IFP which makes the donor one of the regular donor to the IFP.

HOW MUCH WAS DECLARED IN THE FIRST QUARTER?

In the first quarter of the 2024/2025 political parties declared R189 950 829 which was by far the highest value of donations across all years and quarters since the introduction of the Political Funding Act.

Notably, the value of first quarter 2024-2025 donation disclosure was comparable to the value of donations declared during the fourth quarter of the past financial year.

A total of 14 political parties declared donations during the first quarter of the year and newly-formed political party Rise Mzansi declared the third highest donation for the quarter valued at R33 895 000.

POLITICAL PARTIES DECLARED A RECORD R189 MILLION RECENTLY, WHY DO YOU THINK THE FUNDING HAS DECREASED?

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