Lawmakers vote to double donation thresholds

Members of Parliament (MP) have recommended to the National Assembly that the thresholds for mandatory disclosure of political donations be doubled, a move that has sparked concerns about significantly reduced transparency in party financing. 

Earlier this month, MPs in the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs voted to double the amount that a political party or independent candidate may receive from a donor to R30 million annually.

They also voted to recommend doubling the threshold that legally requires them to disclose individual donations from R100,000 to R200,000.

These limits are the same as ANC’s proposals made back in December 2024.

Chairperson of the portfolio committee Mosa Chabane said that “this process has been rigorous… [and] is crucial to bring the threshold in line with inflationary increases over time.”

This recommendation seeks to amend the Political Funding Act, formerly the Political Party Funding Act, which regulates the private funding of political parties and independent candidates in South Africa.

Enacted in 2021 and renamed in 2024, the Act seeks promotes transparency in the receipt and reporting of donations in the country’s political system.

However, independent election analyst Michael Atkins’ has expressed some serious concerns that this significantly weakens the transparency the act was meant to uphold.

He told Newzroom Afrika he was concerned that doubling the political donation and disclosure thresholds would reduce transparency in party funding, increase the risk of undue influence and corruption by large donors, and lacked a clear justification from political parties.

“Any increase in the reporting threshold and and that donation limit does reduce the amount that the public knows when the IEC publishes their quarterly figures on the donations,” said Atkins.

“The public has a right to reasonable access to information about private funding of political parties. So if that reporting threshold goes up, the amount of information we get will go down.”

“In other words people can give larger amounts and stay anonymous.” he added.

You’re right — thanks for pointing that out. Here’s a revised and accurate condensation:

Atkins said political parties want higher donation thresholds so they can accept larger sums—like R200,000—from donors who prefer to remain anonymous, instead of being limited to R100,000.

He warned that this change would let wealthy donors significantly increase their funding while avoiding disclosure, raising concerns about transparency, potential undue influence, and the risk of corrupt relationships between donors, parties, and government.

Opposing calls for the legislation

Leading up to this change, several political parties, including the ANC, EFF, and IFP, proposed loosening political donation disclosure laws by raising both the annual donation cap and the minimum disclosure threshold.

The ANC suggested doubling the current R15 million annual cap to R30 million and raising the disclosure threshold to R200,000 – which has been agreed to by the MPs.

The EFF proposed a more dramatic increase—raising the cap to R100 million and the disclosure threshold to R1 million—claiming that current limits hinder their ability to fund daily operations and campaigns.

The IFP suggested a R25 million cap and a R250,000 threshold, citing the difficulty of sustaining political operations on public funding and membership fees alone.

COSATU also supported a cap increase to R30 million but advocated for full disclosure of all donations.

Meanwhie, in a recent court application that tried to get all donations declared, other parties voiced their views.

The DA argued in a responding affidavit that private funding is vital for political parties to operate effectively and noted a significant drop in their income after the PPFA came into effect.

They contend that lowering disclosure thresholds undermines the rights of donors and political parties, maintaining that the current system strikes a fair balance between voters’ right to know and the rights to privacy, free association, and freedom of expression.

They said that donors may be discouraged from contributing if anonymity is not protected “due to fears of political victimisation.”

ActionSA echoed these concerns, warning that mandatory disclosure of small donations could deter support for newer parties, as individuals may fear backlash.

They argue that the real issue lies in enforcement and compliance, not the thresholds themselves.

These proposals have sparked strong opposition from civil society.

Advocacy group My Vote Counts (MVC) and the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) argue that raising thresholds would reduce transparency and increase the risk of undue donor influence over party policy.

Both groups have long supported retaining or lowering the current limits, with MVC and COSATU calling for full disclosure regardless of donation size.

They warn that higher thresholds could allow large donors to exert hidden influence or evade scrutiny by splitting contributions into smaller, undeclared amounts.

Booming donations

Since the start of the 2021/2022 financial year, political parties have declared nearly R812 million in private donations.

However, this figure only reflects disclosed donations and does not capture the majority of contributions that fall below the threshold—which has since been doubled by the Portfolio Committee.

The Act currently lacks comprehensive disclosure requirements and strong controls over private funding.

This gap is evident in the declarations of major parties like the EFF and MK, which show relatively small pools of disclosed donations.

Since the beginning of the 2023/24 financial year, the EFF declared just R3.2 million and the MK Party R380,555 in private donations—amounts likely to have been quickly exhausted in a high-stakes election campaign.