DA leads in party donations – declares R15,9 million to IEC vs ANC’s R10 million

Only four of South Africa’s political parties declared their received donations the the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), who on Tuesday released the 2022-23 first quarter disclosure report in terms of the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA).

The four parties were ActionSA, the ANC, DA and Patriotic Alliance (PA).

Their donation disclosures for the quarter were:

• ActionSA – R750 000
• African National Congress (ANC) – R10 000 000
• Democratic Alliance (DA) – R 15 977 687.13
• Patriotic Alliance (PA) – R310 000.00

Political Party Funding Act

The PPFA came into effect on 1 April 2021, and it requires political parties to disclose donations from donors from R100 000 and upwards to the IEC.

According to the latest report, during this quarter ActionSA, the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) made a total disclosure amount of R27 037 687.13.

However, the ANC and PA declared their donations later than the regulated timeframe as required by the PPFA. And no contributions were made to the Multi-Party Democracy Fund during the reporting quarter.

DA receives most donations

The DA made the highest disclosure of almost R16 million (R15 977 687.13).

From this amount, the single largest donation amount of R15 million was made by Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd. This entity made some significant donations to the official opposition party in the previous financial year.

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The ANC made the second highest disclosure of R10 million.

The donor was an entity known as Botho-Botho Commercial Enterprise. The IEC said this entity should not be confused with Batho-Batho Trust, which has investments in Shell’s exploration business.

The trust also made a significant donation to the governing party in the previous year.

ActionSA disclosed the third largest cumulative donations of R750 000.00.

These donations were received from Style Eyes of California (Pty) Ltd and Shave & Gibson Group (Pty) Ltd, which previously donated to ActionSA in the last financial year.

The former made a monetary donation of R600 000 and the latter a donation of R150 000.

For the PA, the total donation value of R310 000, comprising two separate amounts of R150 000 and R160 000, were received from the party’s leader Gayton McKenzie.

In-kind donations

In terms of in-kind donations, the total value of donations declared during the first quarter was R723 493.56 coming from the DA.

This amount was donated by the DA’s previous donor, Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), a German foundation that made total aggregate donations of R3 100 044.85 in the previous financial year.

Foreign donations

The only party to receive foreign donations in the reporting quarter was also the DA, with a total value of R977 687.13.

Seventy-four percent amounting to R723 493.56 was donated by the FNF. The balance of R254 193.57 was received from Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD).

“In compliance with the legislative prescripts on the conditions for foreign donations, these donations were used for the purposes of training or skills development.

“These included training workshops for the DA’s elected officials serving in a number of municipal councils,” the IEC said.

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Non-compliance with PPFA

According to the elections body, the PA’s donations of R310 000 – comprising R150 000 and R160 000 – were made on 7 March and 31 March 2022, respectively.

This was in breach of the PPFA because the donation was declared a quarter late.

The IEC said it dealt with this breach in accordance with Section 15 of the Act, which empowers the commission to issue directions in case of a breach or contravention.

“In this regard, the commission issued the PA with a direction, requiring the party to make representations explaining the contravention. The party has fully complied with the commission’s direction and the necessary action has already been taken in accordance with the law.

“This involved subjecting the party’s accounting officer to a thorough training on the Act, with the intention to obviate any future breaches because of a lack of, or inadequate, understanding of the Act.”

ANC’s non-compliance

The IEC said the ANC’s R10 million donation was submitted a month later than the regulated time.

“Put differently, while the donation was made within the reporting quarter, it was declared to the commission almost a month after the submission deadline of 31 July 2021. The commission has issued a directive to the ANC in terms of Section 15 of the Act, requesting the party to provide an explanation for the late submission.

“The party was given seven calendar days to submit such a representation. At the time of finalising this publication, the seven-day period had not lapsed.”

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