Staff Reporter.
The EFF on Saturday maintained that it did not receive any donations above R100,000, between April and June this year, that needed to be declared to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The IEC released on Thursday its first quartely report on political parties’ donations received from donors, in accordance with the new Political Party Funding Act (PPFA) that came into effect on 1 April.
The Red Berets were among 502 political parties that did not close any donations, while the ANC, DA and ActionSA declared donations totalling more than R30 million.
The EFF has now called on the IEC to release a comprehensive report with details of all political parties that responded to its request for declarations. The party said this would help to confirm that they did not receive any donations that require a declaration.
The EFF’s elections spokesperson, Leigh-Ann Mathys, said this would ensure there is no doubt in the public about the partie’s compliance with the PPFA.
Mathys said the party engaged with the IEC and confirmed they did not receive anything that requires declaration.
“Prior to this and in anticipation of this Act coming into effect, the EFF convened several meetings with the IEC officials to engage and train the leadership of the EFF from the national, provincial and regional leadership structures on the implementation of this Act.
All these engagements were done to ensure and enforce compliance with the provisions of the above-mentioned Act,” Mathys said in a statement.
She said on 6 July 2021, the IEC wrote a letter to the EFF reminding them to disclose any donations received for the first quarter of the financial year.
“The EFF responded and confirmed to not have received any donations. Subsequently, the IEC responded and confirmed that there is no need to make a donation declaration on the IEC Online Party Funding System if a party has not received any donations.
“This is indeed in line with the provisions of the Act as prescribed by section 9 of the PPFA, 2018.”