ActionSA wants the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to investigate the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), claiming that the parties' recent political party funding disclosures do not corroborate their election campaigns.

In its first report since the May elections, detailing political party funding, the IEC revealed that between April and June, parties declared almost R200-million in donations, the highest recorded since the Political Party Funding Act came into effect in 2021.

In the first set of disclosures for the 2024/25 financial year, the EFF declared R515 313 of in-kind donations, made by MTN in the form of sim cards, mobile data, minutes and routers, for electioneering.

The MKP declared R380 555 from the South African Policy Education Initiative, a not-for-profit organisation registered with the Department of Social Development in March.

In its complaint to the IEC against both parties, ActionSA argued that the EFF and MKP seemed to have exceeded their respective disclosed funding, when looking at the scale of their respective election campaigns. It said the IEC must investigate.

“In the case of the EFF, R3.5-million was disclosed since the start of the 2022/2023 financial year in the context of an election in which the EFF is estimated to have spent over R100-million on stadium events alone. Perhaps even more absurd is (sic) the disclosures by the MK Party which, since its registration, managed disclosures of less than R400 000 in the context of an election in which it emerged as one of the most well-funded political parties and speculation of foreign funding,” ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said.

He said South Africans should be able to vote with full transparency from parties relating to their respective funding.

“ActionSA contends that the IEC is not only the only institution in government empowered to investigate these matters, but that the IEC cannot wait for a party to self-incriminate before its legal obligations in terms of the Act kick in. If a political party demonstrably runs an election campaign that patently and so substantially exceeds its disclosed means of funding the campaign, then the IEC must investigate,” he stated.

Meanwhile, ActionSA has taken legal action against the IEC’s handling of the R150-million Ezulweni Investments debt settlement, as it relates to the African National Congress (ANC).

Last year, Ezulweni wanted to liquidate the ANC to recover money owed to it for work done during the 2019 elections.

However, ANC veterans and party President Cyril Ramaphosa intervened and the company and party settled out of court.

ActionSA had asked the IEC to investigate matter, claiming that the settlement could not be lawful under the Party Funding Act, which it further claimed was “being rendered meaningless” by non-adherence, self-declaration by parties and by a lack of investigating powers in the IEC.

ActionSA argued that in terms of the Ezulweni matter, interest from 2019 would mean that the debt was higher than R150-million.

Further, it stated that the settlement could “not legally be discounted by more than R15-million”. 

“The ANC only had R10-million in disclosures in the quarter under question in which the settlement was concluded and had been in financial distress unable to pay salaries for striking workers. Any donor paying an account more than R100k would have to be declared as donation in kind – no such declaration was forthcoming. The settlement would require a minimum of 10 donors to settle account with disclosures and no such disclosures were made,” Beaumont laid out.

Additionally, ActionSA believes that South Africans could have footed the settlement bill, as it claimed, since January, that Ezulweni Investments is a registered vendor to at least one KwaZulu-Natal municipality where it has been awarded tenders.

“ActionSA’s efforts to engage the IEC to investigate this matter eventually led to correspondence from the IEC in March 2024 confirming that they were handling the matter in terms of the Act and no further communication has been forthcoming. This is despite regular attempts from ActionSA to gain progress reports ahead of a 29 May election in which South Africans had the right to know the full picture of party funding when they voted. 

"Yesterday the IEC’s legal team responded to a letter of demand, reversing their earlier position and claiming now that there is no prima facie case to investigate,” Beaumont said.

ActionSA will now try to legally obtain the record of the IEC’s decision not to investigate, and, if needed, legally challenge the IEC’s decision.