Johannesburg - The Oppenheimer family, businessman Martin Moshal and Naspers collectively donated over R30 million to ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance ahead of this year's local government elections.
In the second quarter, the political party funding report released by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) earlier today indicated that Rebecca Oppenheimer contributed R3.3m and Victoria Freudenheim R3.3m and Jessica Slack-Jell R3.3m to ActionSA, while Moshal contributed R5m to the party's coffers.
According to the IEC report, Moshal also emerged as a key funder of the DA with a contribution of R15m while Naspers contributed R1m to the party.
Major contributors to the cash-strapped ANC was by African Rainbow Minerals owned by Patrice Motsepe, with a R5.8m contribution while the Chancellor House Trust contributed R15m and NEP Consulting R1m.
The party's president Cyril Ramaphosa also contributed a total of R366 000.
The donations received by the six political parties were for the November 1 municipal elections and were paid to the Electoral Commission (IEC) while more than 300 others who participated in the elections failed to make any disclosures.
Other parties who disclosed their funding include the Abantu Integrity Movement, headed by Mkhuseli Jack in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape; ACDP; ANC; DA and Good Party.
The breakdown of donations includes:
* ANC - R22 619 969.00
*ActionSA - R16 923 382.00
*Democratic Alliance – R16 867 007.43
*African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) - R235 000.00
* GOOD - R122 900.00
*Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) - R112 386.04
The IEC said Section 9(3) of the Political Party Funding Act 6 of 2018 and its supporting regulations require all registered political parties to disclose donations above the R100 000 threshold to the Electoral Commission.
In turn, the Commission has a duty to publish the disclosed donations.
Declarable donations were monetary in nature, in-kind or combined, above R100 000 made by a single donor to a single party in a financial year.
IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said it was also important to note that no donations may be made by a donor to a political party above R15m in a year.
“Regulations governing donations from foreign entities stipulate that such a donation should not exceed R5m in a year. Such foreign donations may only be used for policy development, training or skills development of members of a political party,” she said.
Bapela added that the donations worth R56.8m made to the six political parties contained in the second quarter disclosure report were for the period from July to September 2021.
“It is important to highlight that the amount of R112 386.04 declared by AIM was for donations received by the party during the first quarter, ie between the months of April and June 2021. These donations were, however, only declared to the Commission by the party in the second quarter.
“Party funding prescripts state that donations received by political parties must be disclosed on a quarterly basis. In this circumstance, the Commission resolved to publish the donations despite their late submission in the spirit of transparency and openness. For corrective action, a directive has been issued against the party as provided for in the legislation,” Bapela said.
She said concerning the four represented political parties (ACDP, ANC, DA and GOOD), the total value of donations received and declared was R 39 844 876.43, saying it constituted 70% of all the donations received and declared during the second quarter.
Bapela also said four political parties have disclosed a total of R780 675.47 in donations-in-kind. The disclosures were as follows: ActionSA – R 498 382.00; AIM – R112 386.04; GOOD – R122 900.00 and Democratic Alliance – R 47 007.43.
She said the in-kind donations for ActionSA included items such as donation of 400 corporate golf shirts for the party, provision of consulting services, policy development for the party, provision of books and other marketing material as well as 950 000 (A5) handout brochures for the party.
For AIM, the in-kind donation consisted of party T-shirts, flyers, banners, flags, video material, information technology-related material and gazebos.
GOOD Party’s in-kind donation, which was also the only donation declared by the party, consisted of the purchase of a motor vehicle (Mazda Drifter BT-50 Bakkie) for the Party.
The in-kind donation of the DA was in the form of service provider payment for the training of the political party members which took place between 17 – 23 June 2021.
“It is important to note that while training took place in June, which was during the first quarter, payment was only processed and declared during the course of the second quarter on 20 August 2021, hence reported under the second quarter declarations report.
The IEC also revealed that political parties have disclosed a total of three donations from foreign sources, with a combined value of R 467 007.43.
baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za
Political Bureau