IEC flags R15.27m in non-compliant ANC donations ahead of local elections

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is scrutinising the African National Congress (ANC) over R15.27 million in donations that failed to meet disclosure requirements under the Political Funding Act, as parties step up fundraising ahead of the November 4 local government elections.

The commission said the donations – including R15 million from the Batho Batho Trust and R270,000 from Captrust Investment (Pty) Ltd – were excluded from the R116.78 million in compliant donations declared during the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year.

Deficiencies included missing dual disclosures, absent donor or recipient declarations, a lack of proof of the underlying transactions, and late reporting.

The IEC stressed that publishing the information was not a finding that the donations were unlawful, but rather reflected concerns over compliance with statutory disclosure and verification requirements.

The ANC has been issued a section 15 direction to address the deficiencies, with continued non-compliance risking the withholding of public funding allocations or referral to the Electoral Court.

Separately, the commission flagged several ANC donations from the 2025/26 financial year that were reported late, including a further two R15 million donations from the Batho Batho Trust, R10 million from Botho Botho Commercial Enterprises, and smaller contributions from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Valumax Projects.

The ANC's compliance issues emerged alongside the IEC's wider disclosure that four parties declared a combined R116.78 million in donations between April and June.

The Democratic Alliance accounted for around 89% of that total, declaring R104.03 million, followed by ActionSA (R5.5 million), the Labour Party of South Africa (R5 million) and RISE Mzansi (R2.25 million).

A compliance gap was also flagged in one ActionSA donation, where the donor's corresponding declaration remains outstanding.

The IEC said it expects political fundraising to intensify following the formal proclamation of the election date on August 7, and will be paying close attention to high-value donations, late declarations, and compliance with revised funding thresholds, which recently rose from R100,000 to R200,000 for disclosure and from R15 million to R30 million for annual donation limits.