JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 09 June 2025 –
As the Electoral Commission released its political funding disclosures for the first quarter of 2025, a troubling pattern emerged: South Africa’s most powerful political players continue to operate within a system deeply embedded in corporate interests.
Between January and March, donations to parties totaled R14.1 million, with the ANC, DA, and ActionSA disclosing funds linked to mining magnates, media conglomerates, and foreign-funded foundations—raising new alarms over whether democracy in the country is still guided by the will of the people or by the highest bidder.
The ANC’s Funding Web: Chancellor House and Old Allies
Leading the fundraising pack, the ANC secured R 7 million in the first quarter of 2025. Media giant Naspers, once the ideological backbone of the apartheid-era National Party, donated R3 million to the ANC. and R1 million from its own investment arm, Chancellor House Trust. The ANC’s financial dependence on Chancellor House continues to raise ethical concerns.
The trust was previously implicated in the infamous Hitachi-Eskom bribery scandal, where Hitachi was found to have paid $19 million to settle U.S. charges that it bribed the ANC via Chancellor House to secure major power station contracts. Internal Hitachi documents referred to Chancellor House as a “politically preferred” partner. Its financial reach extends across mining ventures in Eswatini and the Northern Cape,
Despite these scandals, the ANC continues to lean heavily on this controversial funding source, prompting opposition leaders to describe Chancellor House as the party’s “shadow treasury.”
Naspers: Political Hedge or Democratic Threat?
In a strategic act of political hedging, Naspers made an identical donation to the DA, which declared a total of R6.1 million in donations this quarter. Among the DA’s donors was the Germany-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), which contributed R1 million in-kind for the party’s training and capacity-building programs.
The return of Naspers as a major donor has reignited scrutiny over its role in South Africa’s political economy. Established in 1915 to promote Afrikaner nationalism, Naspers has long since reinvented itself as a global tech investor.
Its dual R3 million donations to the ANC and DA have led critics to question whether this is an act of political altruism or a calculated attempt to buy access and policy influence. “This isn’t philanthropy—it’s a calculated investment in access,” said one political analyst. “Naspers knows whoever wins in 2026 will shape policies affecting its empires in media, e-commerce, and beyond.”
Foreign Foundations and the DA’s Liberal Backers
The DA’s own funding reveals a growing reliance on foreign liberal networks. Its R1 million in-kind donation from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation highlights this dynamic. Though legal, such foreign support is increasingly controversial, particularly in an era marked by rising global nationalism. FNF’s involvement in programs like the DA’s “Catalyst Programme” is framed as ideological support, yet critics argue that it allows foreign interests to influence domestic politics. “Why should a German foundation shape South Africa’s opposition?” asked one civil society leader.
The DA’s R65 million haul in 2024 underscores its strategic advantage in securing high-value donors, including R10 million each from the Oppenheimers and Main Street 1564, and R8 million from Moshal. Foreign support also played a role: the Danish Liberal Democracy Program funded governance training initiatives, and FNF continued its financial and logistical backing. Critics argue that these “training programs” serve as a loophole for foreign influence under the guise of capacity-building.
It is not just the legacy parties like the ANC and DA that are under scrutiny. The pre-election period of 2024 witnessed a surge in what some critics have dubbed “political venture capitalism,” as corporate donors bankrolled new political outfits with astonishing speed and scale. Donations that quarter hit R172 million—more than double previous records—and much of it flowed into parties that either collapsed before elections or remain organizationally opaque.
Martin Moshal: The Billionaire Bankrolling South Africa’s Opposition
ActionSA, a smaller but increasingly prominent player, also entered the spotlight with a R1 million donation from African Equity Corporation (Pty) Ltd, a company with links to the wife of party leader Herman Mashaba. In previous declarations from 2024, a total of R9 000 000 of the party’s declared donations was received from the party’s regular donor and supporter, Martin Moshal. Moshal is also one of South Africa’s most influential political donors
Martin Paul Moshal is a South African-born venture capitalist, philanthropist, and online gambling pioneer. Born in Durban in 1970, he co-founded Microgaming, a trailblazer in online casino software, and later Entrée Capital, a global venture capital fund. He holds a business science degree from the University of Cape Town and has invested in high-profile startups like Zapper and Monday.com.
.Between 2021 and 2023, he contributed R44.5 million to political parties, mainly ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA), making up 16% of all declared political donations during that time. He previously supported Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, citing a desire to restore lawful democratic governance after the Zuma era. In 2023, he played a behind-the-scenes role in promoting the Moonshot Pact, an attempt to unite opposition parties.
The Rise—and Fall—of Political Startups
Among the biggest recipients in the leadup to 2024 elections was Change Starts Now, a party founded by former PepsiCo executive Roger Jardine. Despite receiving R35.8 million from Fynbos Ekwiteit and Main Street 1564, both linked to private investment networks, the party failed to gather enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Rise Mzansi, another newcomer, received R15.1 million—R15 million of which came from a nonprofit entity named “We Are the People,” which has no discernible public presence. ISANCO, funded entirely by Main Street 1564, also attracted attention despite its limited footprint. “These parties weren’t grassroots movements—they were financial experiments,” said Robyn Pasensie of My Vote Counts, which is currently challenging the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA) in court.
Billionaire Donors: The Power Behind the Politics
A deeper dive into donor disclosures reveals the outsized influence of a few billionaire families and business moguls. Martin Moshal, a dual Israeli-South African tech entrepreneur, has poured R44.5 million into the DA and ActionSA. Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe’s companies, African Rainbow Minerals and Harmony Gold, distributed R36.8 million across the ANC, EFF, and even the VF+. The Oppenheimer family, long synonymous with South African wealth, contributed R33.5 million to the DA, ActionSA, and IFP. Combined, these three donor blocs accounted for 40% of all declared political donations in 2024, prompting civil society leaders to describe the situation as oligarchic, not democratic.
Raising the Ceiling: Loopholes and Legislative Regression
All of this unfolds against the backdrop of proposed legislative changes that would double the threshold for donation disclosures from R100,000 to R200,000, and raise the annual cap from R15 million to R30 million. Watchdogs warn that such reforms will not increase transparency but rather invite more dark money into the political system. “This isn’t reform—it’s a green light for secrecy,” said a representative from OpenSecrets. “Voters deserve to know if their leaders answer to them or to Naspers, mining tycoons, or Berlin.”
South Africa’s party funding laws, though a step forward in mandating disclosure, still contain glaring loopholes. Donor anonymity remains for gifts under R100,000—a threshold likely to increase to R200,000—and the law does not require cumulative disclosure across related entities, allowing wealthy families to spread influence without transparency. Foreign contributions for “training” and “governance support” also remain permitted, raising concerns over sovereignty and accountability.
A Democracy Up for Grabs
As the 2026 elections approach, the central question remains: who truly governs South Africa—its electorate, or the billionaire funders behind the scenes? From the ANC’s reliance on Chancellor House and the DA’s foreign workshops, to the mushrooming of instant parties funded by anonymous investors, the picture that emerges is one of a democracy increasingly vulnerable to corporate capture. As one analyst put it bluntly, “When you follow the money, you realize ‘power to the people’ is just a slogan—the real power is in a few bank accounts.”
