393 parties fail to declare donations

While the ANC, DA and ActionSA declared the millions donated to them ahead of the upcoming elections, 393 political parties did not participate in the Electoral Commission (IEC) donor declaration process.

Only three political parties out of 504 declared having received donations more than R100 000 between April and June 2021.

On Wednesday, September 8, the IEC held a media briefing to release the 2021/22 party funding disclosure report of donations made to the parties of above R100 000.

During the briefing, IEC party funding unit chief executive George Mahlangu gave a breakdown of parties’ participation in the donor declarations:

• Total of 504 parties registered with the IEC
• Three parties submitted declarations of donations of over R100 000
• 108 responded that they did not receive donations above R100 000
•  393 parties did not respond to the overall donation declarations

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said it was concerning to have such a large number of parties having merely not responded to the process set to create transparency for voters and those who bank on their parties.

“If voters know who funded the political parties, they can understand how parties make decisions,” he said.

“The disclosure is an essential part because voters when they go to vote establish a relationship and a political mandate with the party. That mandate can easily be filtered by the interest of donors who can use the price of their donations to influence the decisions of political parties and at times those would not be in line with what the voters wanted.”

Mathekga said it would take the parties, especially new parties, some time to get used to the system.

“The process will be strengthened with time and amended,” he said.

The political party funding act was first implemented in April 2021, and this was its first report.

While the governing ANC launched a crowd-funding campaign last month as it faced financial difficulties it disclosed having received donations amounting to R10-million ahead of the elections.

Over the past month, the workers of the governing party voiced their disgruntlement over not being paid, while the party reported facing “cash flow difficulties”.

IEC vice-chairperson Janet Love said the total value of the donations in the first quarter was more than R30-million with the DA leading with the highest donations received.

Direct donations received by parties :

• African National Congress: R10 720 000
• Democratic Alliance: R15 983 751
• ActionSA : R3 305 090

Love said two donors did not declare such donations they made to the ANC although the party declared it.

“Although the political party has made the declaration and, therefore, complied from its end, the donors had not complied with the requirement to separately declare the donation made. This means that the record includes what is referred to as single-legged donation reports,” she said.

She said of the submissions received, the DA and ActionSA declared donations of in-kind (donating goods instead of money) – the total value of which was R855 685.

This was made up of R499 595 for the DA and R356 090 for ActionSA.

Love said they were also concerned that some parties waited until the last minute to submit their declarations.

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