Johannesburg - The EFF has dismissed claims that it had been contravening the Political Party Funding Act following its failure to make financial disclosures to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for the past quarters after the act came into effect in April.
EFF treasurer-general Omphile Maotwe was addressing the media after the DA expressed concerns that the party – which recently donated a Mercedes-Benz worth R1.8 million to AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo – was not among the six political parties which made disclosures to the electoral body.
In her reply to the allegations, Maotwe said that the ANC were the chief architects of the act but they were now regretting their decision to pass it into law.
According to Maotwe, the ANC allegedly enacted the law to punish the EFF, saying “we warned them about the implications of the act”.
She was also adamant that EFF had not received any funds from the Oppenheimers or the Ruperts like ActionSA and the DA.
“Our election funding came from contributions made by our councillors and parliamentarians. We used their contributions to run a successful elections campaign. We did not get money from the Oppenheimers or the Ruperts,” she said.
In her party’s defence, Maotwe told the media that her party did not receive donations of R100 000 or more during the first and second quarter of the period, obliging them to make such disclosure to the IEC.
Maotwe also said that the vehicle donation to King Dalindyebo and the purchase of their headquarters Winnie Mandela house in Gandhi Square was made possible through their good relations with service providers.
She, however, confirmed to the media that the situation changed in October when several donors made contributions to their party coffers which would now require it to make such donations known by the IEC.
The IEC has, however, warned political parties such as the EFF, FF+, IFP and others who failed to make disclosures to do so before the end of the financial year.
“At this stage the commission is not empowered to probe non-disclosure or force political parties to disclose.
“We urge South Africans to wait until the end of the financial year for a report from the Commission which will stipulate all disclosures made and deal with non-disclosures by political parties noting that the Act provides both criminal and civil sanctions which may be meted out by courts,” IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said.
She said in the intervening period, the onus rests with political parties and entities making declarable donations within the stipulated limits per donor, to disclose such donations to the commission on a quarterly basis.
Political Bureau