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The Democratic Alliance has received close to R16 million in donations, according to the Electoral Commission’s 2022-23 first quarter disclosure report.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IEC said that it was now into the second year of implementation of the Political Party Funding Act, describing the first year of implementation as a success.
“The DA made the highest disclosure of almost R16 million. From this amount, the single largest donation amount of R15 million was made by Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd,’ the IEC said.
It also noted that this entity made some significant donations to the same party in the previous financial year. The DA was the only party to disclose foreign donations used for the purposes of training or skills development.
The IEC said the ANC made the second highest disclosure of R10 million, with ActionSA disclosing the third largest cumulative donations during the quarter.
The ANC’s donation came from an entity known as Botho-Botho Commercial Enterprise. “This entity should not be confused with Batho-Batho Trust, which made a significant donation to the ANC in the previous year,” the Commission noted.
ActionSA disclosed the third largest cumulative donations this quarter. These donations were received from Style Eyes of California (Pty) Ltd and Shave & Gibson Group (Pty) Ltd.
“The former made a monetary donation of R 600 000 and the latter a donation of R 150 000. Both these donors have also previously donated to the same party in the last financial year,” the IEC said.
The Patriotic Alliance disclosed donations of R 310 000, made up of two separate amounts of R 150 000 and R 160 000, from the party’s leader, Gayton McKenzie.
The IEC said over the next few months it would be dedicating more effort and resources to ensuring the timeous publication of the Party Funding Annual Report, which will incorporate audited Annual Financial Statements (AFS) of registered political parties.
The Act also requires all political parties, regardless of their financial position, to appoint independent external auditors for the purposes of auditing their books.
