POLL | Will you donate to help the ANC with its money problems?

The ongoing money woes in the ANC have resulted in the ruling party starting a crowdfunding initiative to raise funds. 

At the weekend, the party shared banking details, asking the public and ANC supporters to make contributions.

The party said the crowdfunding was aimed at mobilising members and supporters to participate in funding ANC programmes and activities. 

“The ANC crowdfunding came into effect on 12 Augus, 2021, to encourage ANC members and supporters to make a contribution into a centralised and single account. We are hopeful that the plan will generate interest in the sustenance of the organisation,” said the party.

The ANC said it has so far been encouraged by the response to the crowdfunding efforts and hopes to grow participation in the campaign.

It said it would abide by the Political Party Fund Act, which requires a declaration of all donations of R100,000 and above, adding that it would declare the donations to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC). 

ANC money woes

The ruling party has failed to pay salaries on time on multiple occasions. 

It still owes its employees their salaries for July and last week announced that payments for August would also be delayed.

Kgothatso Madisa wrote for TimesLIVE that the Sunday Times reported the ANC has not paid Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions to the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and that it owes the tax authority more than R80m, which led to its bank account being garnished.

The party had also reportedly failed to pay provident and pension fund contributions to the administrators despite making deductions from employees' salaries.

SA’s Political Party Funding Act 

The funding act came into operation on April 1, after President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also ANC president, signed the act into law in January. 

Among other things, it requires donations to be disclosed by parties and donors to the IEC. 

The act prohibits donations to parties by foreign governments or agencies, foreign persons or entities, organs of state or state-owned enterprises. 

Parties may, however, receive funding from foreign entities for training, skills development or policy development. No member of a political party may receive a donation other than for political party purposes.

“The implementation of the political party funding act will have far-reaching consequences for good governance and ethical-political activity. It will strengthen the confidence of citizens in the democratic political process and enable them to assert their right to information,” the presidency said at the time.