Electoral Commission issues Party Funding Second Quarter Disclosure Report for the 2023-24 Financial Year

30 November 2023

The Electoral Commission hereby releases the Second Quarter Disclosure Report for the 2023/24 financial year. The report covers the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023. It is also a milestone tenth report since the Party Funding Act, 2018, came into effect on 1 April 2021.

Six (6) political parties made donation declarations during the second quarter of the current fiscal year. The six political parties are:

• ActionSA
• African National Congress (ANC)
• Democratic Alliance (DA)
• Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
• Patriotic Alliance (PA)
• Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus)

Total value of declared donations

The six political parties made a total declaration amount of R41 093 473.53 (forty-one million and ninety-three thousand four hundred and seventy-three rand and fifty-three cents). This total amount includes a late donations declaration of R778 309.00 (seven hundred and seventy-eight thousand three hundred and nine thousand rand) by one of the parties. The late donations declaration consists of three separate donations received by the party concerned during the fourth quarter of the previous 2022/23 fiscal year and the first quarter of the current 2023/24 fiscal year. 

Therefore, minus late declared amount, the net donations declared for the reporting quarter is R40 315 164.53 (forty million three hundred and fifteen thousand one hundred and sixty-four rand and fifty-three cents).

Political parties that made declarations

Five of the six political parties made timely declarations during the reporting quarter. These are ActionSA, DA, IFP, PA and VF Plus. The sixth political party, which made late declaration of donations is the ANC.

The donations in the order of amounts declared are as follows:  

• DA – R36 388 690.78
• ActionSA – R3 458 000.00
• PA – R225 000.00
• VF Plus – R131 000.00
• IFP – R112 473.75

The largest donation – to the DA – was received from an entity known as Fynbos Kapitaal Proprietary Limited.  This entity is not to be confused with Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd, which also made a large donation to the party in the first quarter. The second largest donation came from an individual by the name of Ms M Slack. These two donors donated amounts of R 15million and R10 million, respectively.

Other large donations declared by the party were received from Mr Martin Moshal (R5 million), Mr D Barnes (R3 million) and an international entity known as the Danish Liberal Democracy Programme (R1 478 230.02).

The rest of the donations of individual amounts below the R1 million mark were received in a combination of monetary and in-kind donations from a number of individuals and one regular international donor. These are as follows:

• Mr B MacRobert – R200 000.00
• Mr R Kaplan –  R250 000.00
• Mrs G Leinberger – R250 000.00
• Mr R Carter – R100 000.00
• Mr J Scheckter – R465 570.00
• Mr I Liddle – R250 000.00
• Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) – R394 890.76 (in-kind donation)  

ActionSA’s two largest donations, constituting 86.8%, were received from two individual donors, namely; the party leader, Mr Herman Mashaba (R2 million) and Mr Martin Paul Moshal (R1 million), who is a regular donor to the party and has also donated to the DA as indicated above.

The rest of the donations were received from a number of sources including an entity that is equally a regular donor to the party, Shave & Gibson Group (Pty) Ltd, valued at R150 000.00. Further donations were made by another entity known as Petrocam Trading (Pty) Ltd, valued at R200 000.00, and an individual who is also a leader of the party, Mr Alan Beesley, valued at R108 000.00. All of ActionSA’s declared donations were in monetary terms.

For the PA only one monetary donation made by the party leader, Mr Gayton McKenzie. The value of the declared amount is R225 000.

VF Plus donations were in-kind in the form of 30 wheelchairs and 2 000 kilograms of rice. The respective value of these in-kind items is R75 000.00 and R56 000.00. 

Late declarations

For the reporting quarter, all of the ANC’s declared donations were late declarations. These comprise donations from three entities known as Elohim Erets Retailers CC (R150 000.00), Iceburg Trading (R428 309.00), and Phepha MV Security Services (Pty) Ltd (R200 000.00). The first two donations were made during the last quarter of the 2022/23 fiscal year (January 2023) and the last one was made during the first quarter of the 2023/24 fiscal year (April 2023).

Accordingly, the ANC was issued a request for representation in terms of section 15(1) of the Act. This requires the party to make written representations on the circumstances of the late declarations. Upon receipt of the requested representations, the Commission will evaluate them and make a decision on the next steps. 

Foreign and in-kind donations

Of the total declared donations for this quarter, three were donations in-kind with a combined value of R638 364.51. The three in-kind donations were declared by DA (R394 890.76), IFP (R112 473.75) and VF Plus (R131 000.00).

DA’s in-kind donation was received from the party’s now routine German donor, Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF). The donation was made toward the party’s Johannesburg Whip Training, Youth Strategic Planning and Training Workshop, Protocol Training, Communications Training and Empowering Women in Politics training, among others. These are largely the same programmes that the donor funded for the party for a different region, namely, the Cape Metro.  These donations are consistent with the requirements for foreign donations.

IFP’s in-kind donation was also received from a German foundation, the Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS) and it was for payment to a third party supplier for a workshop with media material consisting of audio visual and stream over three (3) days. This donation was also consistent with the requirements for foreign donations.

On the other hand, the VF Plus’s in-kind donation appears to have been received from a prohibited donor. Furthermore, it appears that the donation was not for a purpose consistent with the requirements of the law. Firstly, the donation was received from a foreign government entity or agency referred to as the Taipei Liaison Office in Cape Town. Secondly, it was in the form of 30 wheelchairs, valued at R75 000, and 2 000 kilograms of rice, valued at R56 000. The Commission has already started the process of instituting remedial processes in respect of these donations.

Conclusion

The Commission appeals to all those that have the means to support the Multi-Party Democracy Fund (MPDF) to do so. Contributing to the MPDF remains the equalising method of private funding for South Africa’s represented political parties. It is furthermore an additional vehicle for funding of all the represented parties in contrast to direct party funding that allows only a few political parties that have the necessary relationships and institutional machinery to get funded. As the country edges closer to the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, the Electoral Commission looks forward to improved contributions to the MPDF in order to realise the constitutional imperative of enhanced multi-party democracy.

Please find the Second Quarter Disclosure Report for the 2023/24 financial year at https://results.elections.org.za/home/PartyFundingReports/6/2/6_2_Published_Declarations_Report.pdf

Statement issued by Kate Bapela, Independent Electoral Commission, 1 December 2023