South Africa’s richest parties – by declared donations
Since the 2021/2022 financial year, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has sported the lion’s share of (declared) donations, followed by the African National Congress (ANC) and Action SA.
According to party funding declaration reports published by the Electoral Commission (IEC), between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years, South African political parties declared over R613.57 million in donations.
The 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years saw a combined R277.89 million in donations (R144.55 million and R133.34 million respectively).
As election season got into full swing, the collective amount raised in the 2023/24 financial year beat the previous two years combined at R335.58 million.
It is important to note that these figures are not a definitive reflection of the income of political parties but rather what parties have actually declared to the IEC.
Back in 2021, the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA) was passed, changing the way money is viewed in South African politics.
Broadly, the legislation regulates how political parties are funded and sets requirements for disclosure of donations.
Of the various provisions, it set out that political parties must disclose all donations received above R100,000 a year to the IEC every three months and caps annual donations from a single donor to R15-million.
This is a cumulative amount and means that smaller donations made by the same person or entity will be tallied and once it reaches R100 000 must be disclosed.
The largest total figures submitted by parties to the IEC (rounded off to the nearest million) over the last three calendar years include:
- DA ~ R228 million;
- ANC ~ R165 million;
- ActionSA ~ R92 million;
- Change Starts Now ~ R36 million;
- Rise Mzansi ~ R32 million.
For example, the donations for the uMkhonto we Sizwe Party, a party that emerged as the third largest party in the recent elections, is unknown as these were not declared before the end of Q4 to the IEC.
To be compliant under the PPFA, political parties must:
- Deposit all donations into a separate bank account.
- Appoint an accounting officer to account for all income, ensure Funds are not used for prohibited purposes, ensure compliance with the Act and prepare financial statements showing all received money.
- Appoint an auditor to annually audit financial statements and assess compliance with the Act.
- Submit the auditor’s opinion and financial statements to the Electoral Commission annually.
While the PPFA aims to ensure that political parties are transparent in how they receive and report the funds that are donated to them, this is not always the case.
On top of this, at the end of the 2023/24 financial year, the transparency in political party funding was muddied.
Over the past several months here has been a period of, as democracy advocacy group My Vote Counts described, “party funding lawlessness” which allowed for “opportunities for a money grab,” and “present[ed] a threat to our democracy.”
Despite concerns voiced by civil society, opposition parties, and a Parliamentary Legal Advisor about its constitutionality, President Cyril Ramaphosa implemented the Electoral Matters Amendment Act (EMAA) weeks before the elections, which amended the PPFA.
The EMAA, signed into law by Ramaphosa on 7 May 2024, amended the PPFA to allow independent candidates to run for positions in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures and access the Multi-Party Democracy Fund (MPDF).
Donations to specific parties/independents are far from the only source of income for political parties. As an example, the MPDF sees political parties represented in national and/or provincial legislatures as beneficiaries of the funds raised by the MPDF.
It contained amendments that removed the disclosure thresholds in the PPFA, which could only be set by the President after a resolution from the National Assembly—a matter that, despite promises, remained unset.
My Vote Counts took the government to court, and in a judgement by the Western Cape High Court on 16 August, the Court found that the introduction of the EMAA on 8 May 2024 created a legal gap regarding donation limits and disclosure, a situation that violated the rule of law.
The handing down of the order by the Court immediately reinstated the donation limit at R15 million and the disclosure threshold at R100,000.
“This is a victory for transparency and accountability,” said My Vote Counts.
“While it does not advance our party funding laws, it reinstates the two key limits in the PPFA that, since their removal, had rendered the law virtually meaningless and, on a practical and constitutional level, created a dangerous gap in our legislative framework,” added the group.
It is also seeking retrospective relief for the period of the lacuna that has just come to an end to ensure “that there is no secrecy in the funding of our politics.”
Independent elections and political analyst Michael Atkins wrote that “the three-month ‘gap’ in the donations limits and reporting threshold is a stain on our democracy that is receiving almost no comment or concern.”
“A challenge to political parties: Will you declare all donations received between May 8 and August 16 as though the law had been in place?” he added.
To take it one step further, the group filed papers challenging the constitutionality of several aspects of the PPFA.
“We argue that the law in its current form does not go far enough to promote the right of access to information and the exercise of political rights from an informed position [and] that the annual donation cap should be reduced, and that all donations should be disclosed.“
For a comprehensive outline of declared donations, reports can be found here.
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