SABMiller to pay political parties R9m

SABMiller had approved plans to provide funding to political parties in South Africa for next year’s general election as part of its commitment to encourage democracy, the brewer said on Friday. The board asked its South African subsidiary, South African Breweries, to donate R9 million, which will be distributed across the six largest political parties in proportion to their seats in the National Assembly. These are the ANC, the DA, Cope, the IFP, the United Democratic Movement and the Freedom Front Plus. SABMiller executive chairman Graham Mackay said “South Africa has a vibrant, open democracy and SABMiller is proud to have made a contribution to that achievement. Political progress will remain vital to the country’s continued stability and growth but this progress requires funding and significant human resources. This is an extremely important cause and it deserves our support.” SABMiller made contributions of R5m in the run-up to the 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections and has not made any other political donations outside of the national election cycle. This year’s donation value follows a number of years of double-digit inflation in South Africa. Its stock fell 0.12 percent to R482.20 on Friday. – Staff writer