ActionSA criticises IEC's oversight of political party funding

ActionSA is threatening legal action and raising concerns about the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) handling of political party funding disclosures.

ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont said there was growing concern the Political Party Funding Act “is being rendered meaningless by non-adherence to the provisions of the act, legislation that places the onus upon a party to self-declare and the reality that the IEC is not set up as an investigative body”. 

The commission on Monday said 14 political parties had declared a cumulative amount of nearly R200m in donations between April and June.

Beaumont highlighted discrepancies in funding disclosures.

“To point out how serious the problem is, the IEC recently took political parties to court [including the ANC] for non-submission of audited financial statements which is the only safeguard against a party not disclosing a donation. The court imposed a fine of R40,000 on these parties, while parties such as ActionSA spent double this figure on auditors to achieve a clean audit outcome three years in a row.”

National spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni said: “If political parties do not adhere to the precepts of the Party Funding Act, what happens to them? What is the sanction? What are the instruments available to the South African public to make sure political parties declare who's funding them?”

Beaumont said the party is planning to take legal action against the IEC for its “flip-flop” on its initial commitment to investigate the ANC's R150m Ezulweni debt settlement agreement.

“After the two-line statement issued by the ANC in December 2023 that the party had settled the debt with Ezulweni Investments, ActionSA has been in a protracted battle with the IEC to investigate this matter purely on the basis that there is no way the settlement can be lawful in terms of the act,” he said.

“ActionSA has discovered Ezulweni Investments is a registered vendor to at least one municipality in KwaZulu-Natal where it has been awarded tenders. A concern exists that the real terms of this debt settlement may involve South Africans footing the bill for this settlement.”

He criticised the IEC’s decision not to investigate.

“Yesterday [Tuesday] the IEC’s legal team responded to a letter of demand, reversing their earlier position and claiming there is no prima facie case to investigate. ActionSA’s legal team will initiate a two-part legal action: first, to obtain the record of decision from the IEC to assess the rationality of their decision, and second, if necessary, to challenge the rationality of the decision to decline the investigation.”

Beaumont also criticised the disclosures by the EFF and MK Party.

“ActionSA has initiated a new set of complaints issued to the IEC [this week] in relation to the EFF and MK Party on the basis that their disclosures do not substantiate their campaigns.

“In the case of the EFF, R3.5m was disclosed since the start of the 2022/2023 financial year in the context of an election in which the EFF is estimated to have spent more than R100m on stadium events alone.

“Perhaps even more absurd is the disclosures by the MK Party which, since its registration, managed disclosures of less than R400,000 in the context of an election in which it emerged as one of the most well-funded political parties and speculation of foreign funding.”

Beaumont said ActionSA contends the IEC is not only the only institution in government empowered to investigate these matters, but the IEC cannot wait for a party to self-incriminate before its legal obligations kick in.

“If a political party runs an election campaign that patently and so substantially exceeds its disclosed means of funding the campaign, the IEC must investigate. ActionSA will follow the process with the IEC relating to the complaints filed against the EFF and MK Party and will keep South Africans appraised of the IEC’s responses.”

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