Multi-Party Democracy Fund received less than R5,000 in donations, says IEC

Political parties represented in parliament’s National Assembly will split R4,791, the Electoral Commission (IEC) has revealed.

The commission announced on Monday donations made into the Multi-Party Democracy Fund were less than R5,000. The amount for allocation is for April 2021 until the end of this year.

“The Electoral Commission hereby gives notice in terms of the Regulations on Political Party Funding 2018 that a total amount available for allocation for the period April 1 2021 until December 23 2022, to represented political parties, from the Multi-Party Democracy Fund established in terms of the Political Party Funding Act 6 of 2018, is R4,791,” said the commission. 

The fund raises and distributes donated funds from the private sector to represented political parties.

WHO GETS WHAT?

According to the IEC, the money must be divided among the parties that have at least one seat in the National Assembly, one-third in equal representation to each and the other two-thirds based on their number of seats.

The fund may not accept donations from any organ of state, state-owned enterprises, foreign government or foreign government agency. 

ARE THERE RULES ON MONEY RECEIVED?

The funds may not be used for the following:

• to pay remuneration to any person representing the party in the national, provincial or municipal legislatures;
• to pay remuneration to any person in the service of the state and who receives remuneration for that service;
• to finance or support any cause in contravention of any code of ethics binding on MPs or provincial legislature;
• to establish any business or acquiring or maintaining immovable property (except where that property is to be used solely by the party for party political purposes0;
• to defray legal expenses relating to internal party disputes;
• any other purpose which may be prescribed.

HOW MUCH DID POLITICAL PARTIES RECEIVE IN THE FIRST QUARTER?

Only four political parties declared donations in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, with the DA receiving the largest sum. 

The DA, ANC, ActionSA and Patriotic Alliance (PA) made a total disclosure amount of more than R27m.

During this quarter, the four political parties made donation disclosures as follows:

• DA — R15,977,687;
• ANC — R10m;
• ActionSA — R750,000, and;
• Patriotic Alliance — R310,000.

WHO DONATED?

Most of the DA’s funding came from Fynbos Ekwiteit, which donated R15m.

The DA also declared in-kind donations worth R723,493 from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German foundation that donated R3.1m in the previous financial year.

It received R254,193 from Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, the liberal party of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. 

The ANC’s R10m donation came from Botho-Botho Commercial Enterprises. This entity should not be confused with Batho-Batho Trust, which made a significant donation to the ANC in the previous year.

ActionSA’s donations were received from Style Eyes of California and Shave & Gibson Group. 

“The former made a monetary donation of R600,000 and the latter R150,000. Both donors previously donated to the same party in the last financial year,” said the IEC. 

The PA’s donations came from its leader Gayton McKenzie.

“The PA’s donation of R310,000, comprising R150,000 and R160,000, were made on March 7 and March 31 respectively. This was in breach of the legislation in that the donation was declared a quarter late,” said the IEC.