ANC, DA, IFP declare lowest funding since 2021 IEC says

The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has revealed that only three political parties made declarations of their donations in the second quarter.

The IEC announced the declaration on Thursday, revealing it was the second lowest reported donations since 2021.

This comes as political party donors hold onto their cash following the May 2024 national and provincial elections.

“This is a period during which there were limited election and campaign activities in the South African political landscape following the successful conclusion of the May 2024 national and provincial elections,” the IEC said.

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ANC

The African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) declared donations totalling R8 554 213.

The ANC led the pack with the largest donation of the three parties with R7 212 500, while the DA declared R1 127 923 and the IFP R213 790.

“The ANC’s declaration amount is comprised of three separate donations received from two companies: Valumax Projects 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.”

In the previous quarter, R189 million was declared, the highest amount since the Political Party Funding Act in April 2021.

DA

The IEC said the DA’s donations were received from two donors, 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,” the IEC said.

IFP

The third and lowest donation was declared by the IFP at R213 790.

The IEC said the donation was received from donor Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) NPC.

“The donation was in-kind in the form of payment towards conference fees, accommodation and 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 a similar donation to the IFP which makes the donor one of the regular donors to the IFP,” the IEC revealed.

Foreign donations

The IEC said the total value of foreign donations was R893 239 for the reporting quarter.

“These were donations received from FNF and KAS for the DA and IFP, respectively. A total of R403 029 of this amount was in-kind donation,” it said.

The IEC added that Multi-Party Democracy Fun (MPDF) received a single contribution of R1 674 from an anonymous contributor in a bank transfer in July.

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