The African National Congress (ANC) is facing Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) scrutiny over donations worth R15.27 million whose disclosures failed to meet political funding requirements, as parties step up fundraising ahead of the November 4 local government elections.
The IEC said the donations, including R15 million from the Batho Batho Trust and R270,000 from Captrust Investment (Pty) Ltd, had not been included in the R116.78 million in compliant donations declared during the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year.
The commission said it had identified “many compliance matters” relating to donations to the ANC.
It said submissions received from both the ANC and donors had failed to meet the requirements of the Political Funding Act and the applicable disclosure framework.
Among the deficiencies were failures to submit the required dual disclosure, failures by the donor and/or recipient to submit the required declaration, failure to provide proof of the underlying transaction, missing supporting documentation and late reporting.
The IEC said it had decided to disclose the ANC-related information in the interests of transparency while the relevant regulatory processes were being pursued.
However, it cautioned against interpreting the disclosure as a finding that the donations themselves were unlawful.
“The Electoral Commission emphasises that the publication of these matters should not be construed as a finding that the underlying donations are unlawful,” it said.
“Rather, the issue at this stage concerns compliance with the statutory disclosure and verification requirements applicable to political funding.”
The ANC has been issued with a section 15 direction to address the identified compliance deficiencies.
Failure to comply could result in further regulatory action, including the withholding of future allocations from the Political Representatives Fund and the Multi-Party Democracy Fund.
The commission also warned that continued non-compliance could result in a referral to the Electoral Court for appropriate sanctions.
More ANC donations reported late
The IEC separately flagged a number of ANC donations relating to the 2025/26 financial year that were reported after the prescribed reporting periods.
These included an in-kind donation of R501,230.29 from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a R10 million donation from Botho Botho Commercial Enterprises (Pty) Ltd, R500,000 from Valumax Projects and two R15 million donations from the Batho Batho Trust.
The commission said the declarations had failed compliance tests in several respects, including late reporting, failure to provide proof of the transaction by the donor and/or recipient, and failure to ensure dual disclosure.
These donations were therefore also excluded from the tabulated total of compliant donations.
The IEC said the information was being made public “in the interests of transparency” while the relevant regulatory processes continued.
DA accounts for 89% of funding
The ANC’s compliance problems come as the IEC revealed that four political parties declared R116.78 million in donations between April 1 and June 30.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) accounted for approximately 89% of the total, declaring R104.03 million.
ActionSA declared R5.5 million, the Labour Party of South Africa R5 million, and RISE Mzansi R2.25 million.
The total consisted of R111.5 million in monetary donations and R5.28 million in in-kind donations.
The DA’s largest monetary contributions included R30 million from Fynbos Ekwiteit (Pty) Ltd and R25 million from Fynbos Kapitaal (Pty) Ltd.
It also declared R10 million from D Barnes, while R5 million each came from R Slack Diamond, J Slack Jell, M Moshal and Lombard Consolidated Pty Ltd.
Other significant contributions included R2.5 million from Kerry Road Trust and R2 million from Predator Securities (Pty) Ltd.
The DA also received significant in-kind contributions, including expenditure incurred on its behalf for advertising, staffing, legal services and campaign-related assets.
These included R2.78 million from Voices of South Africa Foundation NPC, R1.16 million from Make a Difference Trust, R815,891.08 from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, and R528,655 from Mr and Mrs T Madilonga for two vehicles used by the party.
ActionSA donation also flagged
ActionSA declared R5.5 million, comprising R5 million from Martin Moshal and R500 000 from Siyaya Free To Air TV (Pty) Ltd.
The IEC identified a compliance matter involving the Siyaya donation.
While ActionSA submitted its declaration, the corresponding declaration by the donor remains outstanding.
The commission said it had issued the necessary direction to address the non-compliant disclosure.
RISE Mzansi declared R2.25 million from Ungani Investments (Pty) Ltd and Captrust Investments (Pty) Ltd, with the IEC confirming that both donations were fully compliant.
The Labour Party of South Africa declared a R5 million monetary donation from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), made on June 30.
IEC expects funding to increase
The disclosures come after the November 4 local government election date was formally proclaimed on August 7.
The IEC said the formalisation of the election date was expected to contribute to increased political fundraising and campaign expenditure.
“The declarations published for this quarter already reflect a significant level of political funding activity, and provide an early indication of the financial mobilisation taking place ahead of LGE 2026,” the commission said.
It expects political funding activity to increase as parties intensify fundraising for campaigning and voter mobilisation.
The commission said it would pay particular attention to high-value donations, late declarations, discrepancies between donor and party disclosures, third-party expenditure and in-kind contributions, proof and verification of transactions, foreign funding and compliance with disclosure thresholds and annual donation limits.
The reporting cycle is being conducted under a revised disclosure framework, which increased the disclosure threshold from R100,000 to R200,000 and the annual upper donation limit from R15 million to R30 million.
The IEC said transparency in political funding depended not only on disclosure, but on information being accurate, complete, timely and verifiable as parties move towards the November elections.
