The government faces increased pressure from political parties to amend the legislation governing the private donations for political parties, a development which could shape the funding landscape for parties ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
According to a 2025 research report by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), most political parties which participated in the survey are in favour of loosening restrictions.
Other stakeholders are in favour of tightening them. “These preferences partly align with public opinion, with dominant responses consistently favouring a lower annual donation limit, but providing a more mixed view on disclosure thresholds,” the report reads.
The ANC has previously proposed increasing the disclosure threshold from R100,000 to R250,000 and the annual donation cap from R15m to R50m. The EFF opposes the act in principle seeing it as burdensome for opposition parties but has not explicitly opposed or supported specific thresholds.
Under the current Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), political parties must disclose donations exceeding R100,000 with an annual cap of R15m per donor. The IEC has faced growing scrutiny over its capacity to enforce existing provisions. Despite improvements since the PPFA’s implementation in 2021, compliance remains erratic.
Proposals to bolster transparency include shifting from a purely income-based regulatory model focused on donations to a hybrid framework that monitors both income and expenditure.
Advocates argue such an approach would close loopholes that allow parties to misreport funding sources via campaign events and indirect contributions, according to the report released on Wednesday.
“The IEC’s capacity to implement political funding oversight through compliance monitoring and enforcement is questionable due to limited resources and a small staff complement in the IEC's PFU, which are likely to compromise its effectiveness in monitoring and enforcing the PPFA. A well-funded oversight body is considered crucial for successful implementation of political funding legislation,” the report reads.
In the last financial year only a fraction of the country’s 500-plus registered political parties submitted financial disclosures, while a series of high-profile donation discrepancies triggered legal challenges.
“In the 2022/23 financial year, just 46 out of 531 registered political parties complied with the [PPFA]’s request for financial statements,” according to the IEC's 2023 annual report.
The IEC added that the judgment by the Western Cape High Court in 2024, which reinstated donation thresholds, had challenged its capacity to implement the PPFA. The court found that the gap in the law created by the Electoral Matters Amendment Act, which removed donation caps and disclosure requirements of a R15m annual donation limit of a single entity to a political party within a financial year and the R100,000 [amount], be removed. The judgment reinstated the repealed provisions of the PPFA.
“The IEC faced significant implementation challenges due to this regulatory uncertainty, needing to constantly adjust its systems, guidance and practice in response to evolving political dynamics.”
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