SA’s richest families splash millions on political parties

Corporate SA, typically hesitant to associate itself with political causes, has ploughed millions of rand into the coffers of political parties, with some of the country’s richest families emerging as mega political donors. This is according to an analysis of public disclosures.

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Harmony Gold, companies associated with billionaire business-person Patrice Motsepe, led the charge of big businesses generously donating to political parties after the veil of secrecy surrounding political funding was lifted in 2022.

Harmony and ARM are worth a combined R160bn on the JSE. Both groups are chaired by Motsepe.

Data from the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) indicates that both mining houses made financial contributions to various political parties, including the EFF, Freedom Front Plus, the DA and the ANC, covering a wide range of political and ideological beliefs.

Motsepe has not been shy to publicly associate himself with the ANC, having often attended its conferences as a guest. He is also brother-in-law to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.

The lion’s share of ARM and Harmony political funding went to the ANC, with an allocation of about R26m from both companies since the 2021/22 financial year. Naspers took a liking to the DA and ANC, donating R10m to the parties in the period.

Several members of the Oppenheimer family donated a total of nearly R50m to the DA, and were also generous to Rise Mzansi, IFP and Action SA.

Capitec’s founder and largest shareholder Michiel le Roux donated R65m to the DA.

Le Roux, who is worth R27bn according to Forbes, also donated R15m to the failed political campaign of former FirstRand chair Roger Jardine, whose party did not even make it to the ballot. Jardine, who quit his role at SA’s most valuable bank, was seen as a pro-business candidate.

Herman Mashaba’s party received significant support from Martin Moshal, who reportedly owns a stake in gambling giant Betway. Moshal donated R30m to Action SA, and signed big cheques for the DA as well.

It is Moshal’s investment in Action SA that will be stinging as the party underperformed and garnered just over 630,000 votes and handful of seats in the National Assembly.

Ramaphosa, the Patriotic Alliance duo Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene, and Mashaba were the only party leaders to donate to the parties they lead.

United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK), a company owned partly by US-sanctioned Russian mogul Viktor Vekselberg and the ANC’s funding front, Chancellor House, donated more than R30m to the ANC since 2021.

UMK is at loggerheads with the SA Revenue Service over a tax bill of more than R350m.

The Political Party Funding Act, which became law in 2021, forced parties to disclose all donations of above R100,000, whether in cash, kind or both to the IEC each quarter.

All in all, businesses and the country’s wealthy individuals and families have donated more than R300m to political parties in the past four years.

khumalok@businesslive.co.za