SA political parties declare record donations haul
The Democratic Alliance (DA) received R56 million in donations and is one of the political parties with the highest amount in the first quarter of the 2024-2025 financial year.
On Friday, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) published the first quarter political funding disclosure report for the financial year 2024/2025. The report covers the period of 1 April to 30 June 2024, the period before and after the 29 May national and provincial elections.
POLITICAL PARTIES THAT RECEIVED THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF DONATIONS
According to the IEC during this quarter, political parties declared a cumulative amount of nearly
R200 000 000. The R189 950 829 is by far the highest value of donations across all years and quarters since the introduction of the Political Funding Act.
Notably, the value of first quarter 2024-2025 donation disclosure is comparable
to the value of donations declared during the fourth quarter of the past financial year.
A total of 14 political parties declared donations during the first quarter of
the year and newly-formed political party Rise Mzansi declared the third highest donation for the quarter valued at R33 895 000.
The IEC said all the donations were of a monetary nature and were received from five different
entities and individuals. “We Are The People”, a repeat donor to the same party having donated a maximum R15 000 000 to the party in the fourth quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year, made
another maximum donation of R15 000 000 in the first quarter of 2024/2025 financial
year. Another R15 000 000 was received from Rebecca Oppenheimer who is a regular donor to different political parties in the country.
The five parties that received the highest donations were:
- Democratic Alliance (DA) – R56 601 039
- Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – R38 340 000
- Rise Mzansi – R33 895 000
- African National Congress (ANC) – R26 015 313
- ActionSA – R13 186 000
In the fourth quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year political parties declared whopping R172 million. Most of the donations were from the infamous Oppenheimers, mining magnate and CAF president Patrice together with Main Street 1564 (Pty) Ltd.
DO YOU THINK CORPORATE DONATIONS TO POLITICAL PARTIES ARE ETHICAL?
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