Watchdog groups warn that loopholes in South Africa's political funding environment, exacerbated by legal amendments that doubled the annual donation cap to R30 million and raised disclosure thresholds, enable wealthy elites and corporations to bypass transparency measures and quietly buy political influence.
The latest declarations published by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) revealed that political parties collected more than R97,2 million in donations in the last months, and watchdog groups, My Vote Counts (MVC) and Corruption Watch have warned that the donations are not as transparent as they are meant to be.
The organisations have criticised the funding environment, arguing that higher legal donation limits and loose regulations allow wealthy elites to bypass transparency measures and exert disproportionate influence over politics.
This comes ahead of the 2026 local government elections, scheduled for November 4, 2026.
This reporting cycle continues under the revised disclosure framework approved by the National Assembly, which increased the disclosure threshold from R100,000 to R200,000, and the annual upper donation limit from R15m to R30m.
