ANC seeks member donations to avoid ‘threat of state capture’

In an effort to become less dependant on big business to fund their operations, the ruling party has called on its members to help it become less vulnerable to the threat of state capture by regularly donating as little as R50.

City Press reports that this new strategy is also intended to help the ANC become less reliant on the business people who often donate in the hopes of securing lucrative government contracts.

This method is reportedly the brain-child of ANC acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete and ANC secretary general Ace Magushule who were inspired by the Turkish governing party who relies on this exact model of funding.

They were exposed to this idea during a recent trip to Turkey where they were hosted by the nation’s ruling party (AKP).

This funding model is also similar to that of trade union Solidarity, who revealed a plan back in 2015 to raise R3.5 billion in membership donations which would be used to develop a “separate and secure future for the Afrikaans population of South Africa.”

The ANC’s official membership stats were last recorded at just under 1 million people and if they each contributed R50, the ANC could bank on just under R50 million rand in monthly income from membership donations alone.

This comes in the wake of president Cyril Ramaphosa signing a bill aimed at regulating the public and private funding of political parties into law.

ALSO READ: Why SA’s new political party funding bill is good news for democracy

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.