DA Tops Political Donation List While ANC Faces Scrutiny Over Late Declarations
South Africa’s political funding landscape is seeing early momentum, with five parties declaring over R97 million in donations during the first three months of 2026, a clear signal that the local government election season has begun.
The Electoral Commission (IEC) released its quarterly political party funding report on Thursday, covering donations received between 1 January and 31 March 2026. The figures arrive few months before South Africans head to the polls on 4 November for the 2026 Local Government Elections.
The Democratic Alliance emerged as the largest beneficiary, declaring R57.3 million, nearly 60% of all reported donations. That figure includes R54.8 million in monetary contributions and R2.4 million in kind.
RISE Mzansi reported the second-largest sum: a single R30 million donation from an entity called “We Are The People.” However, the IEC noted that this arose from converting a previous loan into a donation, adding that it would engage the party to clarify the terms and ensure compliance with the Political Funding Act.
ActionSA declared R9.9 million, with major contributions including R5 million from businessman Martin Moshal, R1 million each from Siyaya Free to Air TV and African Equity Corporation, and roughly R2.9 million from party leader Herman Mashaba.
Smaller declarations came from the Alliance of Citizens for Change (R440,500) and Build One South Africa (R113,795 in kind).
ANC flagged over undeclared and late donations
The Electoral Commission also raised concerns about donations linked to the African National Congress that had not yet been acknowledged or declared by the party at the time of publication. These include R500,000 from Valumax Projects to the ANC’s Ekurhuleni branch and R270,000 from Captrust Investments to the Veterans League.
Additionally, the ANC made two late declarations totalling more than R10.5 million, R10 million from Botho Botho Commercial Enterprises and R501,230 from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. The IEC has issued the party a directive to submit representations explaining the delays.
Meanwhile, the Multi-Party Democracy Fu