Ballot papers are seen as voters casts their votes at Welizibuko Primary School in Soweto on 29 May 2024. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
Parliament appears to be leaning towards increasing the limits for political party funding through private donations.
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs is in the process of drafting new regulations following a court ruling that reinstated the upper limit and threshold for receiving and declaring donations respectively, which were previously removed by Parliament.
This follows amendments to several provisions of the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), introduced through the Electoral Matters Amendment Act in May 2024.
These amendments included the elimination of the R100 000 threshold for political parties declaring donations to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and the removal of a R15 million cap on the amount a single donor can contribute to parties in a given year.
However, the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town reinstated these provisions, which remain in effect until the National Assembly and President Cyril Ramaphosa establish new disclosure thresholds and upper limits.
In a meeting before the committee on Tuesday, Parliament Budget Office (PBO) director Dumisani Jantjies presented an analysis comparing South Africa’s regulations to those in countries with similar electoral systems and economic standings, such as Colombia.
The PBO identified three types of donation limits including fixed monetary limits (common in countries with higher GDP per capita) and percentage-based limits (often tied to campaign spending or taxable income).
“Higher and unrestricted private political donations are frequently seen in wealthier nations, influenced by higher disposable incomes and elevated campaign expenses,” Jantjies said.
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He indicated that countries with proportional representation (PR) electoral systems, like South Africa, often impose stricter limits to mitigate disproportionate influence.
Countries with higher average incomes also tend to set higher disclosure thresholds to balance transparency with administrative burdens.
The PBO noted a global trend toward aligning donation limits, disclosure thresholds, and campaign financing rules for greater coherence.
Jantjies described South Africa as an “outlier” in terms of its upper limits and disclosure thresholds.
He highlighted the significant growth in public funding for political parties in the country, which increased from R2.9 billion in 2020/2021 to R6.5 billion in 2023/2024.
Private donations have also surged, totaling R5559.7 million over a three-year period between 2021/2022 and 2023/2024.
“We see that larger parties continue to benefit more,” Jantjies said, creating systemic imbalances in funding distribution.
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He cautioned that large-scale private donations could potentially influence governance and electoral outcomes.
Additionally, the lack of comprehensive funding disclosure requirements makes it difficult to assess whether current limits were adequate.
Jantjies also highlighted that the PBO lacked access to detailed data on the actual costs of running political parties or campaigns, complicating reliable analysis.
The PBO found no clear rationale for the R15 million upper limit established by the PPFA in 2018.
Adjusted for inflation, the figure would now be around R21 million, according to the presentation.
“It’s hard to say either the figure is truly suitable, particularly given differing opinions on donation limits.”
Jantjies proposed that a reasonable disclosure threshold for donations in South Africa should range between R122 000 and R174 000, aligning with GDP per capita.
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Therefore, the PBO recommended that Parliament consider increasing the current R100 000 threshold to R122 000.
“A threshold of R122 000 may strike a balance as it is high enough to avoid excessive reporting of small donations and yet low enough to prevent undue influence in political funding,” Jantjies explained.
The PBO further recommended retaining the R15 million upper limit, adjusted for inflation, or using GDP per capita or average income as a base to determine donation caps.
Another option would limit a single donor’s contribution to 5% of a political party’s or candidate’s income or expenditure from the previous election.
Jantjies, in his concluding remarks, stressed that the current funding landscape favours larger political parties and those with ties to “big business” interests.
IFP MP Busaphi Machi expressed skepticism about the influence of wealthy donors.
“We also have the view that more information needs to be collected about the costs of running a political party,” she said.
Machi contended that increasing limits would prevent “unethical methods” of fundraising.
“The increases will assist especially considering the upcoming local government elections in 2026. More parties need funding to have a footprint [in all provinces],” the IFP MP added.
ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe questioned how to level the playing field between larger and smaller parties.
“It is a fact that wealthier parties resulting from wealthier donations will have a reach that those with a smaller donation will not have,” Meshoe said.
Meanwhile, DA MP Adrian Roos warned that efforts to equalise funding could result in individuals creating parties solely “just to get a share of some sort of a pot”.
MK party representative Sihle Ngubane echoed similar sentiments but said the changes being proposed for the party funding regulations were merely “cosmetic”.
“My emphasis is that with the exercise we’re doing again, it’s just a waste of people’s time,” he said.
Ngubane emphasised that donations should be made to “one pot” and then be evenly distributed to parties.
“If we really not doing cosmetic changes about this, trying to look good, when actually we are useless in implementing our Act and in fixing this country’s corrupt activities of political party work, we would have levelled the playing fields by saying let everyone put the monies in one pot and let that money be distributed evenly.”
He added that anonymous donations risk allowing donors to influence decision-makers in ways that harm the public.
“Let there be no people who will contribute money in politics and want it to be anonymous because these people, at the end of the day, they come in the background and influence certain decision-makers in these political parties to decide in a way that suits them instead of deciding in a way that suits our poor people in this country.”
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