The EFF declares its donations to the IEC, at last

The EFF has finally declared to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC)  that it received donations.

This is the first time the EFF appeared on the list of parties that received donations since the Political Party Funding Act came into effect in 2021.

In its report on Tuesday, the IEC shows that the party received more than R3m in donations.

But in the media release, the source of the donations is not clear.

The EFF has previously been criticised for not declaring its donations, with other political parties treating the funding with suspicion, given the flashy nature of its party campaigns, especially in the lead-up to the local government elections in 2021.

But the party has repeatedly defended itself, with EFF president Julius Malema maintaining the party uses funds it gets from parliament and the IEC.

He said the party uses party levies to fund its activities.

According to the Political Party Funding Act, parties need to declare donations of more than R100,000.

In a statement on Tuesday, IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said 11 political parties made declarations about their donors.

Collectively, the parties received more than R46m, with the ruling ANC receiving R22.8m.

The DA declared it got R12.5m Herman Mashaba’s Action SA declared donations of R5m, while the EFF received R3m.

Other parties that made declarations include the Abantu Integrity Movement, which got R100,000, the Patriotic Alliance which declared R430,000, and Shosholoza Progressive Party R150,000.

The African Transformation Movement declared R200,000; the Freedom Front Plus got R484,438, the GOOD party declared R340,447 and the IFP declared R787,588.

“The 11 disclosures represent a notable increase in the number of political parties making declarations in comparison to the first and second quarters. In the two preceding quarters, only three and six parties respectively made declarations. 

“It is noteworthy that three parties, namely ActionSA, the ANC and DA, have consistently made declarations over the three quarters,” said Bapela. 

She said R5.7m amounted to donations in kind while the rest were monetary donations.

“The largest amount of a single monetary donation declared is the R15m donated by Batho Batho Trust and declared by the ANC,” she said.

Bapela said only two political parties, ActionSA and the DA, made declarations of donations from foreign sources. 

“The combined value of these foreign donations is R1.3m. The DA received the largest amount of foreign donations, totalling R840,191.47, followed by ActionSA at R530,000.

“The foreign donation received by ActionSA was received from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German political party foundation, and was used for production of training material for candidates and elected councillors, localised policy manifestos and handbooks. This usage of foreign donations is compliant with the provisions of the act.

“In respect of the DA, three separate foreign donations were received from a single donor, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, also a German foundation which has made donations to the DA in the previous two quarters,” said Bapela.

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