Political parties rake in over R172 million in donations: Let’s see who funds them

Se-Anne Rall|Published 9 months ago

Political partie's campaign posters on the Durban M4 Picture: Doctor Ngcobo

With less than two weeks to go before South Africans take to the polls for the May 29 provincial and national elections, the Electoral Commission (IEC) has released its published declarations report showing which political parties have raked in the most coins and who their funders are. The figures are for the 2023/2024 financial year, Quarter 4.

As per the IEC, through the Political Party Funding Act, parties are obligated to disclose all donations received above R100,000, whether in cash, or by use of resources like transport or catering etc, each quarter.

"The R100,000 is cumulative - multiple donations from the same entity are added together and must be declared immediately when the total value reaches R100k," the IEC explained.

Leading the pack with the highest figures is the Democratic Alliance (DA). The party declared a donation (for this quarter) of R65,011,359,39. Some of the donations were from Naspers Limited (R2,000,000), Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (R2,520,000) and N Oppenheimer and J Oppenheimer (R10,000,000 each).

This was followed by the African National Congress (ANC) with R16,782,000. The party’s biggest donation came from Harmony Gold Mining Company (R6,900,000) and Naspers (R2,000,000).

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) declared an amount of R2,640,000, while the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) declared R20,000,000.

Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has not disclosed their donations.

Political Parties 2023/24 Q4 donations list:

Able Leadership - R300,000,00

ActionSA - R10,525,000,00

ANC - R16,782,000,00

African Transformation Movement - R120,000,00

Change Starts Now - R35,820,000,00

DA - R65,011,359,39

EFF - R2,640,000,00

Independent South African National Civic Organisation - R1,599,000,00

IFP - R20,000,000,00