For the second consecutive quarter, the African National Congress (ANC) declared the most donations, more than R12-million, with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Political Funding’s Third Quarter Disclosure Report, which showed a total of R18 364 505 in all party donations.  

The IEC said this made the cumulative value of donations for the year to date a significant R216 869 547.

The IEC’s Political Funding’s Third Quarter Disclosure Report for the 2024-25 Financial Year, showed an increase of R10-million compared with the previous quarter.

The ANC, Democratic Alliance (DA), Referendum Party (RP), Build One South Africa (BOSA) and nine individual entities made a declaration of donations above the R100 000 threshold.

The ANC declared a total of R12 998 773, with all the donations received from the party’s regular donors, non-profit company Education and Training Unit (ETU), Chancellor House Trust and Botho Botho Commercial Enterprises.

The ETU made an in-kind donation of R998 773 in the form of direct payment to a hotel for the accommodation and training of ANC members in November 2024.

“Chancellor House Trust made a monetary donation of R2 000 000 in December 2024, whereas Botho-Botho Commercial Enterprise made a monetary donation of R10 000 000 on December 5, 2024,” it said.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) reported the second highest in donations, amounting to R4 268 227.

Donations were received from Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), Main Street 1564, Danish Liberal Democracy Programme (DLDP) and the Smollan Foundation Trust (SFT).

“FNF made two separate donations of R888 950 and R311 547 in November and December 2024, respectively. The former was a monetary donation while the latter was an in-kind donation made in the form of a direct payment to service providers on behalf of the party for a variety of training and skills development projects,” said the IEC.

The IEC noted that Main Street 1564 made two separate monetary donations of R1 420 773 and R706 316 in December 2024, while the DLDP and the SFT made monetary donations of R790 640 and R150 000, respectively.

“As a foreign donor, DLDP’s donation was used to fund the DA’s Ready to Govern Locally II Training Programme. Such a foreign donation and its use on skills development is permissible in law,” it explained.

The Referendum Party reported the third highest donation, valued at R937 341, which was an in-kind donation from the Cape Independence Advocacy Group to provide for campaign resources such as the use of an office, 200 t-shirts, 20 000 flyers, 2 000 posters, gazebos and social media advertising.

The IEC highlighted that the donation was made in June 2024, which made it a late declaration.

“Consequently, the Party was issued a direction in terms of section 15 of the Act to make representation. Depending on the reasons furnished for this late declaration, the party could face imposition of an administrative fine or other penalties provided for in the Act,” the IEC explained.

BOSA declared an in-kind donation worth R160 164.

The donation was received from Konrad Adeneur Stiftung NPC (KAS) in November 2024, towards payment for hotel accommodation, meals, conference fees, flights and transport costs for two training workshops for persons deployed in the national and provincial spheres of government.

The DA and BOSA declared foreign donations, constituting R2 151 300, or 11.7%, of the total value of donations declared for the quarter.

The donations were received from FNF, DLDP and KAS.

“The donations complied with the Act in that they did not exceed the upper limit of R5 000 000 per donor per party in a financial year and they were utilised for activities and costs related to training and skills development of members of the political parties concerned,” the IEC said.