Africa-Press – South-Africa. Only four political parties declared donations in the first quarter of the current financial year, with the DA scoring more than half of the declared donations.
“The four parties made a total disclosure amount of R27 037 687.13. Some of the disclosures were made late as they should have been made during the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year,” read a statement from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which released the declarations for the first term on Tuesday.
Cash-strapped ANC proposes amendments to Political Party Funding Act
During this quarter, a total of four political parties made donation disclosures as follows:
Most of the DA’s funding came from Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd, which donated R15 million.
The IEC said:
Capitec founder Michiel le Roux is a director of Fynbos Ekwiteit. Le Roux was also one of the authors of the report the DA commissioned after its dismal electoral performance in 2019.
The DA also declared in-kind donations worth R723 493.56 from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German foundation that donated R3 100 044.85 in total in the previous financial year.
The DA also received R254 193.57 from Volkspartj voor Vrijheid en Democratie, the liberal party of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
“In compliance with the legislative prescripts on the conditions for foreign donations, these donations were used for the purposes of training or skills development. These included training workshops for the DA’s elected officials serving in a number of municipal councils,” said the IEC.
Party funding: Several parties benefit from Patrice Motsepe’s deep pockets
The cash-strapped ANC’s donation of R10 million came from Botho-Botho Commercial Enterprise. This entity should not be confused with Batho-Batho Trust, which made a significant donation to the ANC in the previous year.
“ActionSA disclosed the third largest cumulative donations this quarter. These donations were received from Style Eyes of California (Pty) Ltd and Shave & Gibson Group (Pty) Ltd. The former made a monetary donation of R600 000 and the latter a donation of R150 000. Both these donors have also previously donated to the same party in the last financial year,” said the IEC.
The PA’s donations came from its leader, Gayton McKenzie.
The ANC and PA’s declarations for the first quarter were submitted late and the donations were actually made in the final quarter of the previous financial year.
The IEC’s statement read:
“The Commission has already dealt with this breach in accordance with Section 15 of the Act, which empowers it to issue directions in case of a breach or contravention. In this regard, the Commission issued the PA with a direction, requiring the party to make representations explaining the contravention,” the IEC said.
“The party has fully complied with the Commission’s direction, and the necessary action has already been taken in accordance with the law. This involved subjecting the party’s accounting officer to thorough training on the Act, with the intention to obviate any future breaches because of a lack of, or inadequate, understanding of the Act.
“Secondly, the ANC’s R10 million donation was submitted a month later than the regulated time. Put differently, while the donation was made within the reporting quarter, it was declared to the Commission almost a month after the submission deadline of 31 July 2021.
“The Commission has issued a directive to the ANC in terms of Section 15 of the Act, requesting the party to provide an explanation for the late submission. The party was given 7 calendar days to submit such a representation. At the time of finalising this publication, the 7-day period had not lapsed,” it added.
The IEC also reflected on the first year of the Political Party Funding Act’s implementation and drew the “preliminary” conclusion “that the first year of implementation was a success, albeit with a number of challenges that [are] often characteristic of any new system or programme that is implemented for the first time”.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
