By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has revealed that four political parties have failed to submit their 2021-2022 financial year statements to the commission, as required by the Political Party Funding Act.
The parties include the African Independent Congress (AIC), Congress of the People (Cope), Pan Africanist Congress and National Freedom Party (NFP).
Meanwhile two parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and the African Transformation Movement (ATM), provided incomplete submissions.
IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya said overall, “the veil of secrecy on party funding is being removed”, but more work will be required going forward.
Moepya said non-compliance is still a grave concern, with some 474 South African political parties are found to be non-compliant with the Political Funding Act.
For the 2021/2022 financial year, political parties disclosed a total of R145.5 million.
This figure consists of R137.3 million in monetary income, while R8.1 million was categorised as in-kind income.
The IEC said it’s important to note that these figures only include income that exceeds the R100 000 threshold.
As per regulations, political parties are required to make quarterly disclosures of all direct donations above this threshold, regardless of it being monetary contributions, in-kind, or both.
Chief executive of Political Party Funding George Mahlangu, said most of the non-compliant parties are underrepresented and lack the financial resources to pay for independent auditors.
During the period of this report, an estimated 515 registered political parties were in operation, 15 of which were represented parties.
Only 41 of these submitted their financial statements, with 24 meeting the submission deadline and 17 submitting after the deadline.
The commission determined that these parties remain non-compliant and will be directed to comply with their obligations.
If they fail to comply, the IEC will request the Electoral Court to impose administrative fines on the non-compliant parties.
“The panel of investigators were appointed and are now involved in the contracting phase. The panel has been established, and no investigations are currently underway.”
Meanwhile the commission’s Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said they hope the voter registration campaigns in November will not be impacted by the power cuts.
“The energy crisis is concerning to all South African and as it does to the EIC, and we hope that by the time we go to the voter registration in November and into the lead up to the elections next year the situation would be greatly ameliorated.
“So that we can lessen the burden on our fiscal allocations in terms of providing alternative sources of energy at the voting stations. It is certainly a matter of deep concern to the commission.”
Mamabolo said preparations for the elections are already in full swing.
“Most of our logistical requirements for the registration weekend are in order, Service provider have been appointed and production is underway. We do except to receive registration material in June and July.