Political newcomer Rise Mzansi receives highest donation of R15m
ActionSA has declared the second largest donation for the last quarter of last year - followed by the ANC which continues to draw down from its Chancellor House Trust, to fund its activities.
National Deputy Chairperson, Cilna Steyn, is in Centurion on 13 January 2024, flighting RISE Mzansi posters and encouraging South African’s to register to vote. Picture: RISE Mzansi on X
CAPE TOWN - Political newcomer Rise Mzansi has received the highest, single monetary donation of R15 million in the most recent reporting period by the electoral commission.
Philanthropist and granddaughter of the founder of the De Beers mining company Rebecca Oppenheimer, has now been confirmed to be the party’s biggest backer, following the revelation by party leader Songezo Zibi earlier this month.
ActionSA has declared the second largest donation for the last quarter of last year, followed by the ANC which continues to draw down from its Chancellor House Trust, to fund its activities.
Between October and December 2023, seven political parties declared donations to the electoral commission to the value of R59 million.
Of the R17 million in donations declared by Rise Mzansi a single, R15 million injection comes from Oppenheimer, who has previously also donated to the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA.
ActionSA comes in second declaring just shy of R14 million in donations, half of which comes from regular benefactors Victoria Freudenheim and business tycoon Martin Moshal.
Build One South Africa has declared R8.5 million in donations also receiving money from Moshal but with its largest donation of R6 million coming from another philanthropist Jessica Slack-jell.
The Patriotic Alliance continues to fund itself from its leaders with Gayton Mckenzie contributing R2.7 million and Kenny Kunene over a million rand during this reporting period.
Of the DA's R2.6 million declared from six donors a million rand came from the Artemis Property Group.
Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has declared a single donation of R191,000 from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for a training workshop for party members, also deemed by the electoral commission to be a foreign donation.
Standard Bank donated R5 million to the multi-party democracy fund which the electoral commission said has already been distributed among the parties.