It was not an April Fool’s joke but a decision by the multiparty parliamentary home affairs committee to double the political donation disclosure threshold to R200,000 and the annual political funding cap to R30m for individuals and entities.
In effect, this ensures more money from unknown origins can flow into local government election campaign coffers. Much is at stake in the 2026 municipal polls for all political parties grappling with the changed national unity government political landscape. A rich campaign kitty is requisite.
The ANC had proposed to MPs “at least” doubling the R100,000 disclosure threshold and R15m annual donation limit on the argument that “when a party represents millions of voters, the party tasks become very complex and expensive”. The party is on record saying the political funding disclosure regimen has deterred its donors. The IFP put forward an only slightly more modest R25m annual cap, but with a R250,000 declaration threshold. In committee deliberations, the DA supported inflation-related increases, and the EFF a R100m annual donation limit.
In taking the decision to double disclosure thresholds and donation limits, MPs ignored the parliamentary budget office (PBO) recommendation of three options, including pegging disclosure to a percentage of the donor’s income. An inflation-related adjustment dating back to 2018 when political funding legislation was adopted would have delivered a R21m annual donation cap, while using GDP-per-capita meant a R17m annual disclosure cut-off and a R122,000 disclosure threshold.
The PBO research also showed how much SA political parties gained from the taxpayer-funded national purse from the 2020/21 to the 2023/24 financial years — more than R6.5bn.
In addition to this public funding disbursed in proportion to representation in provincial legislatures and parliament via the Electoral Commission of SA, R559.7m was donated between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years, according to the presentation from the budget office established to advise MPs.
On Tuesday the house considered the home affairs committee’s decision to double political funding declaration thresholds and donation limits, but proposals come into effect only after a Government Gazette proclamation is published by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The president could intervene. Or not.
Money in politics is always tricky. Political parties have joined forces on political funding since Idasa took the four biggest political parties to court in the early 2000s — unsuccessfully — after they all refused Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) requests to disclose their donations. Though during the litigation the ANC indicated political funding law was a good idea, it took parliament until 2018 to legislate.
Despite the rhetoric of transparency and support for democracy, the fact that not everything on the party political funding front was hunky-dory became clear on May 16 2024. The ANC, with its majority in the house, rammed through a resolution to give Ramaphosa a blank cheque on political donation declaration thresholds and annual limits. It was a cynical move that swatted away parliamentary legal advice on how to proceed after Ramaphosa proclaimed May 8 as commencement date of the Electoral Matters Amendment Act.
Political funding accountability NGO My Vote Counts successfully litigated. In August 2024, the Western Cape High Court described the earlier National Assembly action as “somewhat problematic” and reinstated the R15m annual cap and R100,000 declaration threshold. Judgment on the constitutional challenge by My Vote Counts to the Political Funding Act is pending.
If one thing unites political parties, it is political funding. The self-serving act of doubling the disclosure threshold and the annual donation limit illustrates this. But transparency is crucial. Money in politics brings influence that makes it harder for ordinary South Africans to have their voices heard — in elections, and beyond.
• Merten is a veteran political journalist specialising in parliament and governance.
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