ANC received largest sum in party donations — Here’s how much the DA, ActionSA, PA and EFF got

Only five political parties have declared donations for the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, with the ANC receiving the largest sum. 

The Electoral Commission (IEC) revealed the five parties disclosed R40m in funding from donors during the third quarter.

How much did each party receive?

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

• ANC: R32m
• ActionSA: R4.68m
• DA: R2.92m
• Patriotic Alliance: R247,000
• EFF: R202,600

Who donated?

Most of the ANC's funding came from Batho Batho Trust (R15m) and United Manganese of Kalahari (R15m). 

Both Batho Batho Trust and United Manganese of Kalahari have in the previous financial year made significant donations to the party, said the IEC.

R2m came from Naspers Limited. 

ActionSA’s donations were received from three sources, two of whom are regular donors to the party, namely Martin Moshal (R3.5m) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) NPC (R180,000). The third donor was African Equity Corporation with a donation of R1m.

The DA's donations were received from Fynbos Trust (R271,000), Miss Karen Cramer (R250,000), Naspers Limited (R2m) and Friedrich Naumann Foundation (R400,325). Except for Cramer, the three other entities have previously made significant donations to the party.

For the EFF and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) , donations were received from a single donor each. The EFF’s donation was received from Car Junction, while the PA donation was received from the party's deputy president Kenny Kunene.

“ActionSA and the PA are unrepresented political parties, meaning they do not have representation in the nine provincial legislatures or national parliament. These two parties have from time to time declared significant donations received,” said the IEC.

Foreign donations

The IEC said only ActionSA and the DA declared foreign donations, and all were compliant with the legislation as they were below the R5m limit per donor per party per annum. 

Foreign donations were used for prescribed purposes, namely, skills development, research and policy development.

Donations in kind

Among the five political parties, four declared donations in kind to the value of more than R30.7m.

The IEC said the largest in kind donation was declared by the ANC at R30m. The balance was made up by donations to ActionSA (R180,000), the DA (R400,325) and the EFF (R202,600).

ActionSA’s in kind donation was received from KAS in the form of training and skills development for party members.

The ANC’s in kind donations were from Batho Batho Trust and United Manganese of Kalahari valued at R15m each.  

“The donation from Batho Batho Trust was a payment made to the South African Revenue Service on behalf of the party. The donation from United Manganese of Kalahari was a payment made on behalf of the party to the Johannesburg Expo Centre for the ANC elective conference of December 2022. 

“These types of payments to third parties are classified as in kind donations in terms of the Act. Both donations do not exceed the prescribed annual threshold,” said the IEC.

The DA’s in kind donation is from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which has donated to the party every quarter. 

“The in kind donation, valued at R400,325, was in the form of training and skills development for party members. This covered seminars on communication, strategy and skills, promoting entrepreneurship and open markets and coalition building and strategic partnership, among others.”

The EFF’s in kind donation of R202,600 was received from Car Junction. The donation was in the form of party branded T-shirts and caps.