Cape Town – Political parties received cash boosts from the IEC ahead of this year’s elections in line with the laws of funding parties based on proportional representation.
The report from the IEC on parties represented in Parliament showed that the ANC got the lion’s share of the funds as it commands a majority.
The ruling party received R89.8 million from the commission, which is an increase from the previous allocation of R86m.
The DA, which is the second largest party in Parliament, received an allocation of R34m from the commission.
It was followed by the EFF, which got R19.9m. Freedom Front Plus received R6.5m after its electoral fortunes saw it bag more seats in the Chamber.
The IFP got R5.8m and the ACDP got R2.3m. The ATM got R1.5m.
Cope, Al-Jammah, Good Party and the PAC received less than R1m each because of the fewer seats that they have in the National Assembly.
The IEC requires that each party in parliament must submit audited financial statements every quarter to qualify for funding.
The funding of parties has been in place since the dawn of democracy.
However, recently the Political Party Funding Act was implemented to force parties to disclose their funders.
Since the implementation of the Political Party Funding Act the IEC has tabled two quarterly reports where only a few parties disclosed their funders.
In the first quarter only three parties, the ANC, ActionSA and the DA, disclosed the amounts and names of their funders.
In the second quarter only six parties disclosed their funders.
Some of the parties have demanded the IEC to ensure all parties comply with the Party Funding Act and disclose their donors.
Political Bureau