Big Five bonanza: Patrice Motsepe splashes the cash to political parties

Billionaire Patrice Motsepe was the most generous donor to SA’s political parties in the past quarter, with the ANC the recipient of the single biggest donation.

Between October 5 and 19, Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals and Harmony Gold paid a total of R13,454,209 to the big five political parties represented in parliament.

Overall, the ANC received the biggest chunk of money in the past quarter, raking in R22,803,969, with its biggest single donor, Batho Batho, paying the party R15m.

Batho Batho has strong ties with the ANC and is linked to Shell, which has caused a storm with its plans — which have since been halted by the court — to do seismic exploration along the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast.

This is according to a Independent Electoral Commission report, was released on Tuesday.

Companies linked to Motsepe, who is also president of the Confederation of African Football, paid millions to the major political parties.

The new Political Funding Act requires parties to declare all donations above R100,000 to the IEC. In turn, the IEC publishes a quarterly report with the details of companies that have donated either monetarily or in kind to the different political parties.

The latest report shows that African Rainbow Minerals and Harmony Gold were among the most generous companies, paying millions of rand to the ANC, DA, EFF, IFP and even the Freedom Front Plus.

Motsepe is traditionally known for his association with the ANC.

The ANC received R5,853,969 from Harmony Gold between October 5 and 19.

The DA received money from both African Rainbow and Harmony Gold. Both companies paid R2,115,019 on different dates.

The payments follow a similar trend with the other three parties, with both companies paying identical amounts to each.

The EFF received two payments of R1,099,088 from both companies, while the IFP also received two payments of R343,794.

FF Plus received the least, with two payments of R242,219.

During the time of the payments, political parties were gearing up for the local government elections, which usually means they have an increased spend on posters, rallies and T-shirts.