Majority of political parties not receiving direct donations from individuals: IEC

The majority of political parties in South Africa are not receiving much in direct donations from private individuals.

This was revealed by the Electoral Commission (IEC) in its first quarterly report detailing all declarations made by political parties in line with the Political Funding Act.

The Act, which came into force in April 2021, requires political parties and their donors to disclose to the IEC donations of above R100 000 and the IEC to publish this information every three months.

IEC briefing on political party funding:

Head of IEC’s Political Party Funding Unit George Mahlangu, “At the time of the preparation of this report we had 504 registered political parties represented and unrepresented of those of course three have submitted the declarations as per the statement. 108 parties have responded to our correspondence that they have not received donations that require declaration and 393 parties did not respond to our correspondence.”

LGE set for 1 November

Yesterday, Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced that the local government elections will take place on 1 November.

The date will be officially proclaimed on September 20, following the scheduled voter registration weekend later this month.

Minister Dlamini-Zuma’s briefing on elections: 

The official proclamation effectively closes the voters roll and therefore voters can still register for the polls until that date.

Dlamini-Zuma said, “After consultation with the IEC, we have come to the determination that this year’s local government will be held on the 1st of November 2021. This is in accordance with the constitution read with the Municipal Structures Act as the Act prescribes that the election be held within 90 days from the end of the five year-term of local government. We will officially proclaim this date on the 20th of September 2021 after the voter registration weekend.”