-
IEC banner seen at a voting station in South Africa.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa has concluded the second day of its two-day symposium on Political Party Funding in Durban. The IEC says the gathering aimed to discuss the future of political funding and its impact on multi-party democracy.
The event followed four years of implementing the Political Party Funding Act of 2018.
The IEC publishes party funding data submitted by political parties who declared donated funding totaling over R230 million for the financial year 2024/2025, the first full year since the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Political analyst, Prof Dirk Kotze, who attended the first day of the proceedings, said the public was hesitant to accept the self-reported party funding as the real income of political parties.
“There have been some instances where the IEC had to take these parties to the Electoral Court for non-compliance with the act that deals with the reporting of the income,” he said. “There are issues about whether the political parties are actually complying with the act.”
DA and ANC lead in declared funding
The official political party declarations given to the IEC show that the Democratic Alliance (DA) declared the largest amount of funding at over R63 million, followed by the African National Congress (ANC) which declared a total of over R53 million over the financial year.
DA top funders
The DA’s declared top funders were registered as Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) LTD which donated R15 million, and MJ Oppenheimer who donated R15 million to the DA’s annual total of over R68 million.
ANC top funders
The ANC declared maximum allowed R15 million from Batho Batho Trust, which was followed by R11 million donated by Chancellor House Trust, to the ANC’s over R53 million of declared funding
