The Electoral Commission publishes second quarter report on the disclosure of donations to political parties
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 are monetary in nature, in-kind or combined, above R100 000 made by a single donor to a single party in a financial year. It is also important to note that no donations may be made by a donor to a political party above R15 million in a year.
Regulations governing donations from foreign entities stipulate that such a donation should not exceed R5 million in a year. Such foreign donations may only be used for policy development, training or skills development of members of a political party.
Accordingly, the Commission today shares details of all donations disclosed by political parties during the second quarter of the current financial year. The Second Quarter Disclosure Report covers disclosed donations by political parties for the period from July to September 2021.
VALUE OF SECOND QUARTER DONATIONS
Six political parties have made disclosures totalling R 56 880 644.47 during the second quarter. These parties made disclosures with corresponding amounts as follows:
ActionSA – R16 923 382.00
Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) – R112 386.04
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) – R235 000.00
African National Congress (ANC) – R22 619 969.00
Democratic Alliance (DA) – R16 867 007.43
GOOD – R122 900.00
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, i.e., 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 the 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 legislations.
Concerning the four represented political parties (ACDP, ANC, DA and GOOD), the total value of donations received and declared is R 39 844 876.43 (thirty-nine million eight hundred and forty-four thousand eight hundred and seventy-six rands and forty-three cents). This constitutes 70% of all the donations received and declared during the second quarter.
In-kind donations
Four political parties have disclosed a total of R 780 675.47 in donations-in-kind. The disclosures were as follows:
ActionSA – R 498 382.00
AIM – R 112 386.04
GOOD – R 122 900.00
Democratic Alliance – R 47 007.43
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 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.
Foreign donations
Political parties have disclosed a total of three donations from foreign sources, with a combined value of R 467 007.43. The DA declared two of the donations, valued at R 347 007.43 and ActionSA disclosed a donation of R120 000.00.
All these foreign donations appear in compliance with the legislative requirements set out in section 8(4) of the Party Funding Act. According to the declarations by both the receiving parties and the donors themselves, the donations were used for policy development, training and skills development of party officials.
Parties that fail to disclose
With respect to non-disclosing parties, the prescripts provide that the onus rests on both political parties and entities making declarable donations to their preferred parties to disclose such donations to the Commission.
The Commission therefore entreats all registered parties to ensure that all declarable donations are disclosed. This is a vital component of our political architecture driving openness and transparency in matters pertaining to democracy. Disclosures can only serve to strengthen the informed political choices of citizens.
Multi-party democracy fund
For the second quarter, the MPDF has remained inactive because donations have not reached the minimum threshold of R1 million as required by the Act.
The Commission re-emphasizes its call on members of the public, corporates, both local and foreign, and any other entities that may wish to support constitutional imperatives of multi-party democracy to make contributions into the Fund.
For more information please visit https://results.elections.org.za/home/downloads/party-funding-reports
Source: Government of South Africa