Fourteen political parties have declared R189 million donations for the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year which covers the period between 1 April and 30 June.
According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) the donations are by far the highest amount ever in any quarter since the Political Funding Act came into existence, and the first since the formation of the seventh administration after the May 29th general elections.
The Democratic Alliance received the chunk of the donations with R56 million, followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), newcomer RISE Mzansi with R33 million, African National Congress (ANC) R26 million, ActionSA R13 million, and another newcomer Build One South Africa (BOSA) at R12 million.
“While there were few first-time donors during the reporting quarter, a significant number of donors were repeat donors.
Furthermore, many of the repeat donors made significant donations across several political parties, targeting mainly new or recently established political parties,” read a statement from the IEC.
The DA’s biggest donations were from R15 million Fynbos Ekwiteit and Fynbos Kapitaal, and same amount from Jonathan Oppenheimer.
The IFP received generous donations from the Oppenheimer family.
Johan and Nicholas each donated R15 million to the party, while billionaire philanthropist Martin Moshal donated R7.5 million.
RISE Mzansi received the biggest donations when compared to the parties that were contesting the polls for the first time.
“We Are The People” donated R15 million, Rebecca Oppenheimer contributed R15 million, and The Tempyr Trust, a foreign entity based in Luxembourg, donated R3.3 million.
The ANC also received some monetary donations, R15 million from Batho Batho Trust, R5 million each from United Manganese of Kalahari and Chancellor House Trust, R515 000 from MTN and R500 000 from Discovery Central Services.
Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA biggest contributions were R7.5 million from Martin Moshal, R5 million from Victoria Freudenheim, while party leader donated R250 000.
Newcomer BOSA received R11.5 million from Martin Moshal, while Mary Slack donated R1 million, and The Douw Steyn Family Trust with R250 000.
The Economic Freedom Party declared only one in-kind donation of R515 000 from MTN and it was received in the form of sim cards, mobile data, minutes and routers for electioneering purposes.
uMkhonto weSizwe Party received R380 000, Patriotic Alliance R6.6 million, with party leader Gayton McKenzie donating R5.1 million from his company ZAR Empire Holdings (Pty) Ltd, and GOOD R600 000.
