The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on Thursday that only three political parties have made declarations of qualifying donations received from donors, totalling over R30-miilion in the first quarter.

The commission released the 2021/22 Party Funding Disclosures in terms of the Political Party Funding Act.

The African National Congress (ANC) declared R10 720 000 in individual donations received, the Democratic Alliance (DA) received R15 983 751.48 and ActionSA declared total direct donations of R3 305 090.26.

The Political Party Funding Act makes it mandatory for all registered political parties to disclose all donations above R100 000. Additionally, no donations may be made by a single donor above R15-million in a year.  

The Act also put specific restrictions on sources of funding for political parties, including a restriction on donations made by government departments, State-owned entities and foreign governments and agencies. 

Further restrictions have also been put on the amount and purpose for which foreign entities can make direct donations to registered political parties. This proscription is related to donations whose purpose is to facilitate skills development, training and policy development. The limit is R5-million a year.

The IEC explained that of the submissions received, two political parties declared donations in-kind with a total of R855 685.41. The DA received more than R400 000, while ActionSA received more than R300 000.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACT

The IEC said two foreign entities made direct donations to political parties during the period, adding that these donations were compliant with requirements set out in Section 8 (4) of the Act.

As part of the commission’s efforts to foster compliance with the Act, all registered political parties, represented and unrepresented, were sent reminders to submit their declarations before the due date of July 31, 2021.

“Although not all political parties responded, a significant number of them, especially among the represented parties, reported in writing that they did not receive qualifying donations in the reporting period,” the IEC said.

However, the IEC highlighted that two donors failed to comply with the dual disclosure requirement - the donations affected are in relation to the ANC.

“Although the political party has made the declaration and, therefore, complied from its end, the donors had not complied with the requirement to separately declare the donation made. This means that the record includes what is referred to as single-legged donation reports. 

The commission has issued a directive for the party to further pursue the donors for compliance, adding that failure to comply may lead to investigations and possible actions being pursued for non-compliance.