IEC reveals only two political parties disclosed funding for fourth quarter

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said only two political parties have disclosed their funding during the fourth quarter for the financial year 2021/22.

The IEC said the Fourth Quarter Disclosure Report covers all qualifying donations declared by political parties for the three-month period between January and March 2022.

Political parties are compelled to submit information related to donations accepted over a certain period in line with the Political Party Funding Act.

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The African National Congress (ANC) received R10 million and the Democratic Alliance (DA) R2.5 million.

The IEC said the DA also declared an in-kind donation of R786,152.81 from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), a German foundation.

“All of DA’s declared donations, except for one, were received from foreign donors – the FNF and Danish Liberal Democracy Programme (DLDP). The combined value of these foreign donations is R2.405,387.72 constituting 95% of the total value of donations declared by the DA during the fourth quarter.”

Sy Mamabolo, the Chief Electoral Officer, said the fourth quarter declarations are by far the least, both in terms of value of donations and the number of parties making declarations.

“For the first time, only two political parties made declarations and the total value of donations was below R30 million, which was until now the least amount declared in a quarter. Noting that the fourth quarter disclosure period was immediately after the local government elections, it appears that there is a nexus between the number and total value of donations and the election cycle.”

Mamabolo said the more imminent the elections, the more likely that parties will receive significant donations.

“Another emerging feature of the party funding disclosure regime is that political parties with the highest representation in the national and provincial legislatures appear more likely to receive donations on a regular basis than those with lower representation. The ANC and the DA being typical in this regard.”

Political parties have three months from the end of the financial year, April to June, to submit their annual financial statements to their appointed independent auditors.

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