Who's funding South Africa's top political parties ahead of elections?
My Vote Counts has released a report detailing the known sources of SA's leading political parties and how they fund their campaigning. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently passed a bill to ensure transparency in this regard, but it has yet to be implemented.
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Political campaigning is an expensive endeavour, with parties often relying on external sources to fund their efforts.
With the elections just around the corner, My Vote Counts has released a report detailing the known sources funding SA's parties as they battle it out for supremacy, according to eNCA.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently passed the Party Funding Bill, which had been earmarked to come into effect on 1 April but has been delayed.
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African National Congress
The ruling party has recently been plagued by allegations of dodgy dealings with entities such as BOSASA and VBS Mutual Bank. Both of these companies have been implicated in bribery, corruption and money-laundering.
My Vote Counts noted that the ANC has received millions from BOSASA, according to the allegations of Angelo Agrizzi at the state capture inquiry.
"According to the Mail & Guardian, the company has received at least around R12 billion in government contracts between 2003 and 2019. According to Agrizzi, AGO spent between R4 million and R6 million monthly for cash bribes to senior government officials on the company’s payroll."
Democratic Alliance
The nation's leading opposition party, according to the report, received a R400 000 donation from Stephen Nel, CEO of Sahara Computers, which is owned by the notorious Gupta family according to My Vote Counts.
The party had also received an undisclosed amount of funds from Nathan Kirsh, a South African-born billionaire who resides in the UK. In an interview, Kirsh had admitted to making a donation to the party. The report claims that this had been in an effort to get the party to merge with Agang.
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Economic Freedom Fighters
The 'Red Berets' have also been accused of or accepting R20 million from the defunct VBS Mutual Bank.
Another questionable source of funding was a R200 000 donation made by Adriano Mazzotti, a self-confessed criminal, according to My Vote Counts. Mazzotti had donated the funds the EFF used to register the party ahead of the 2014 elections.
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that Afrirent had funded the EFF's election campaign. We have since been informed that this was not the case, and that Afrirent had simply been a service provider, which was paid for rendering a service.
What the service provider does with the money has nothing to do with Afrirent. Briefly.co.za would like to apologize for any inconvenience or confusion caused.
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Source: Briefly News
