The restrictions on private donations for political parties has eased with the disclosure threshold for the upper limit doubling to R200,000 and the annual cap raised cap from a single entity increased from R15m to R30m.
The proclamation, signed on August 6 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, follows a recommendation by parliament’s home affairs committee to amend the Political Party Funding Act, a move the National Assembly adopted in May.
The higher disclosure threshold comes ahead of the 2026 local government elections, when parties will require greater financial resources for campaigning. This is amid fears that anonymous funders are pumping money into parties in exchange for influence on policy.
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 party had previously blamed its financial woes, which led to unpaid debts and employee salaries, on the legislation which requires that donors be disclosed.
The ANC has previously argued that the disclosure threshold set by the legislation deters funders, resulting in financial difficulty for the party.
The EFF opposes the act in principle seeing it as burdensome for opposition parties but has not explicitly opposed or supported specific thresholds.
The Electoral Commission SA (IEC) has faced growing scrutiny over its capacity to enforce existing provisions. Despite improvements since the act’s implementation in 2021, compliance remains erratic.
In the 2022/23 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, according the IEC's 2023 annual report.
Parties represented in parliament disclosed a combined R231m in donations during the 2024/25 financial year. The IEC said in its latest declarations report that parties reported R14.19m in contributions in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year where only ActionSA, the DA and ANC disclosed their sources of funding.
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