The African National Congress (ANC) is facing scrutiny from South Africa’s Electoral Commission (IEC) over about R15 million in donations that were not properly declared in line with political funding regulations.
The ANC was excluded from the IEC’s latest political funding report after the commission found its disclosures non-compliant, leaving only four political parties recognised as having met the requirements of the law.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) received the highest amount in donations between April and June, raising R104 million out of the R117 million recorded by the IEC during the period.
The IEC said it had identified several compliance issues involving donations made to the ANC, noting that submissions received from both the party and its donors failed to satisfy the requirements of the Political Funding Act and the applicable disclosure framework.
Among the deficiencies identified were failure to provide the required dual disclosure, failure by either donors or recipients to submit mandatory declarations, lack of proof of transactions, inadequate supporting documentation and late reporting of donations.
The commission said most of the non-compliant donations were linked to the Batho Batho Trust, described as the ANC’s main donor.
The latest IEC report also revealed that the ANC had been late in declaring donations worth R40 million received during the previous financial year, with most of the funds again coming from the Batho Batho Trust.
The IEC said it had therefore excluded the affected transactions from the tabulated total of compliant donations.
However, the commission clarified that the exclusion did not necessarily mean the donations themselves were unlawful.
It warned that failure to comply with statutory disclosure requirements could lead to a referral to the Electoral Court for appropriate sanctions under the Political Funding Act.
(EWN)
