The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has released the 2021/22 first quarter Party Funding Disclosures Report, which shows who funded the country’s political parties.
However, only three parties – the ANC, DA and ActionSA – made declarations. The Political Parties Funding Act requires parties to declare donations above the R100,000 threshold in a year.
ANC, DA and ActionSA donors
According to the IEC, the three parties declared donations totalling R30,008,841.74 in the first quarter of 2021/22. The ANC declared direct donations amounting to R10,720,000, DA R15,983,751.48 and ActionSA R3,305,090.26.
Here’s who donated to each of the parties:
ActionSA
- Martine Moshal: R2,500,000 (monetary donation).
- Style Eyes of California (Pty) Ltd: R333,600 (in-kind donation).
- Black Like Me (Pty) Ltd: R121,490.26 (in-kind donation).
- Brahman Hills Proprietary Ltd: R350,000 (monetary donation).
ANC
- Majestic Silver Trading 40 (Pty) Ltd: R2,500,000 (monetary donation).
- United Manganese of Kalahari: R5,000,000 (monetary donation).
- Mr L Sibiya: R620,000 (monetary donation)
- Tyeks Security: R100,000 (monetary donation).
- Mr Cedric M Ntombela: R500,000 (monetary donation).
- Nonkwelo Investment Holdings: R2,000,000 (monetary donation).
DA
- Friedrich Naumann Foundation: R299,418.10 (in-kind donation).
- Jacques Plaut: R100,000 (monetary donation).
- Friedrich Naumann Foundation: R200,177.05 (in-kind donation).
- Ms Mary Oppenheimer-Slack: R15,000,000 (monetary donation).
- Longlands Village (Pty) Ltd: R200,000 (monetary donation).
You can view further details as provided by the IEC on its website here. IEC said “a significant number of parties” had notified it in writing that they did not receive donations above R100,000.
From the information, Mary Oppenheimer-Slack was the single largest donor to a political party during the period under review, with a whopping R15,000,000 donation to the DA.
Oppenheimer-Slack, the daughter of the late mining magnate Harry Oppenheimer and sister to Nicky Oppenheimer, also made a R1 billion donation to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund when it was established last year.
She made the donation together with her daughters Victoria Freudenheim, Rebecca Oppenheimer, Jessica Jell and Rachel Diamond.
MPDF
Besides direct donations, political parties can also receive funding via the Multi-Party Democracy Fund (MPDF). However, MPDF received a single donation only in the first quarter of 2021/22. It came from a Mr Paul Malcolm Graham who contributed R2,000.
“Regulation 5(3) of the Presidential Regulations, read with sections 6(7) and 26(2) of the Act, provides that money in the Fund will only be due for distribution once the fund reaches a total of one million rand. The effect of this is that to date there has not been any political party allocations from the Multi-Party Democracy Fund,” the IEC said.
“The Commission would like to make an appeal to the South African public and corporates alike, to open their purses and support multi-party democracy.
“The sustainability of the Multi-Party Democracy Fund is a critical step towards a healthy democracy as envisaged in our Constitution.Â