The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) received the highest amount of donations among political parties.
This was revealed in the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) political party funding disclosure report for the 2024/2025 financial year.
DA led with R56m
For the second consecutive year, the DA led with over R56-million in total donations.
This includes R8.6-million in-kind contributions from the Voices of South Africa Foundation NPC. The foundation is linked to regular donor Fynbos Ekwiteit.
Fynbos Ekwiteit and Fynbos Kapitaal also made separate donations amounting to R15,000 each.
The IFP, with R38-million in donations, was the second-highest.
These donations came from various sources, including R15,000 each from Jonathan and Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer.
Harmony Gold Mine and African Rainbow Minerals each donated R420,000, among other contributors. The latter is chaired by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe.
Newcomer Rise Mzansi bagged R34m
Rise Mzansi, a newcomer led by Songezo Zibi, raised nearly R34-million.
We Are The People and Rebecca Oppenheimer, a known donor in the political space, each contributed R15-million.
The Tempyr Trust donated R3.3-million, while the Zungu family gave R320,000 and Craig Butters donated R275,000.
Mobile Technology Networks (MTN) gave the ANC R515,313 worth of in-kind donations. These include SIM cards, mobile data, minutes, and routers. The remaining R25.5-million in donations was monetary.
MTN also donated similar items to the EFF, although the EFF did not report any other in-kind or monetary donations.
The IEC reported that Patriotic Alliance received eight donations totalling R6.6-million in monetary value.
PA received R6.6m
Gayton McKenzie’s ZAR Empire Holdings donated R5.1-million and he also donated R299, 900 in his own capacity. Hendrick Francois Bekker’s Valumax Projects donated R1-million.
The newly formed former president Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) only managed to raise R380, 555.
This was its first monetary declaration received from the South African Policy Education Initiative. It is a non-profit organisation under the Department of Social Development.
“It is important, however, to highlight that as the date of this publication, the lacuna regarding the disclosure limits and thresholds have been removed. Because of the Western Cape High Court judgement of 16 August 2024. [It] provided that the pre-amendment thresholds are to be utilised pending the determination of new thresholds,” reads the statement.
