By Neelam Rahim

Only four political parties have declared donations in the first quarter of the current financial year. The IEC revealed this as it released the declarations for the first term. The DA received donations of close to R16 million, the ANC R10 million from a single donor, and ActionSA received R750-thousand rand. The Patriotic Alliance received donations of R310 thousand entirely donated by its leader Gayton McKenzie.

Radio Islam International discusses with My Vote Counts’ Political Party Funding Researcher, Robyn Pasensie said it is important to note that this only means that these four political parties are saying that in the period under review (1st of April to 30th of June this year). They have received over a hundred thousand rands in donations.

She stated this does not mean that other parties have not received donations. These are just the parties that happened to receive a disclosable amount.

According to Robyn, what we can deem from these small disclosures from these parties is that we have seen repeat donors donating to the bigger parties, the ANC and the DA. These donors account for a sizeable amount of the party’s overall donation.

However, donations are made through businesses with no ownership information upfront. Essentially what is seen is an exploit of weakness in the act.

Similarly, the DA’s biggest repeat donor donated R15 million. Ninety per cent of their donation came from one entity in this quarter.

Regarding the hundred thousand rand threshold, Robyn said political parties are still mandated to keep track of their donations.

Reports suggest that the ANC and the Patriotic Alliance declared their donations late.

According to Robyn, there are penalties for contravening the act.

“We should applaud the IEC as they mention this in their statement that they released along with these disclosures.”

The IEC has also stated that they will institute a penal who will investigate the contraventions to the act.

Meanwhile, the last time around, the EFF said they don’t get many donations and that it’s party members that contribute. Robyn said the EFF had made disclosures in the third quarter.

Listen to the interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.