POLL | Shell-shocked or expected? Share your thoughts on political party funders

Businessman Patrice Motsepe is topping trends on Twitter as South Africans react to his companies, African Rainbow Minerals and Harmony Gold, being among the biggest donors to political parties revealed in the Electoral Commission (IEC) report on Tuesday.

The report was released in line with the Political Funding Act which requires parties to declare all donations above R100,000 to the IEC. 

The report revealed the two companies donated millions to the top five political parties, namely the ANC, DA, EFF, IFP and FF Plus. 

The EFF declared its funders for the first time after the party often claimed it survived off money from the IEC and parliament. 

The ANC received the biggest chunk of donations this quarter, totalling R22m. Second was the DA, followed by ActionSA, EFF and FF Plus. 

The ruling party’s biggest donor was a company identified as Batho Batho which paid the party R15m.

Sunday Times reported Batho Batho has strong ties with the ruling party and is linked to Shell.

The company was recently mired in controversy for its plans to carry out seismic blasting along the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast.

The company was in December instructed by the high court in Makhanda to halt its exploration after protests by the community and environmental activists. 

Here’s the breakdown of donations:

• the ANC received R5m from Harmony Gold;
• the DA received R2m from African Rainbow Minerals and R2m from Harmony Gold;
• the EFF received R1m from Harmony Gold mining and R1m from African Rainbow Minerals; 
• the IFP received donations of R340,000 each from Harmony Gold and African Rainbow Minerals; and 
• the two companies were the sole donors for FF Plus. They each donated R240,000 to the party.