Central SA
Political party donations in fourth quarter stands on R170 m.─── 09:44 Sat, 18 May 2024
“This amount is higher than the total disclosed in all previous quarters.”
Thirteen political parties made declarations of donations for the 2023/24 quarter, which amounted to R172 069 959.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) released the latest Party Funding Disclosure Report on Friday (17/5). It revealed that this amount exceeds the total declared in the last two fiscal years and the amount of disclosures made in all prior quarters.
The Political Party Funding Act declares that all parties must disclose all donations above R100 000.
13 political parties declared donations amounting to over R172 million. Picture: https://businesstech.co.za/
“The total declared value of donations has for the very first time since the inception of the Party Funding Act (which requires donation declarations over a certain threshold) surpassed the R100 million mark in any one quarter,” said the IEC.
Algoa FM reports the Democratic Alliance (DA) declared the highest of all donations for the fourth quarter from twenty-four different transactions. The party received R65 074 359.39.
PARTIES THAT DECLARED DONATIONS
- Able Leadership (AL) – R360 000,00
- ActionSA – R10 525 000,00
- African National Congress (ANC) – R16 782 000,00
- African Transformation Movement (ATM) - R120 000,00
- Change Starts Now - R35 820 000,00
- Democratic Alliance (DA) – R65 074 359,39
- Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - R2 640 000,00
- Independent South African National Civic Organisation (ISANCO) - R1 599 000,00
- Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – R20 000 000,00
- Patriotic Alliance (PA) – R1 030 000,00
- Rise Mzansi - R15 100 000,00
- United Democratic Movement (UDM) - R2 250 000,00
- Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) - R769 600,00
The DA declared the highest party donations. Picture: da.org.za
The party with the second highest declared donations is Change Starts Now (CSN) with R35 820 000, however, it won’t be competing in the elections.
On 29 February 2024, the new political party CSN made the decision not to contest the elections, according to politicsweb. This decision was informed by the determination of the Constitutional Court that a ruling on the signature requirement for unrepresented political parties in the upcoming election was not urgent. The party was deeply concerned about the practical implementation of the new signature requirement for unrepresented parties.
CSN emphasises that such stringent measures restrict electoral participation, undermining the democratic process.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) comes in third and declared R20 million in party donations from father and son, NF Oppenheimer and Jonathan Ernest Maximillian Oppenheimer.
The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), comes in fourth with R16 782 000 in party donations.
Change Starts Now will not participate in the upcoming elections. Picture: IOL
ActionSA comes in fifth in the number of parties that received the highest donations with R10 525 000.
“Four different parties received donations from Patrice Motsepe's firms; Martin Moshal gave to two; and two other parties received significant funding from other billionaires, the Oppenheimers.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared Wednesday 29 May a special public holiday to ensure that South Africans have sufficient time to make their way to the polls to have their vote counted.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) declared the third largest party donations. Picture: X/ IFP_National
The 2024 elections mark the country’s seventh democratic election.
The Africa National Congress (ANC) comes in fourth with party donations. Picture: anc1912.org.za
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