My Vote Counts warns Rise Mzansi’s R30m donation exposes flaws in Party Funding Act

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My Vote Counts warns Rise Mzansi's R30m donation exposes flaws in Party Funding Act Civil society group My Vote Counts (MVC) argues that Rise Mzansi's R30-million loan conversion highlights major flaws in the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), saying it allows wealthy donors to obscure their identities and potentially exert undue influence. In its latest quarterly disclosure report, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) notes that Rise Mzansi declared a R30-million donation. This came from an entity called "We are the People", which has apparently converted a previous loan into a donation. MVC points out that it is the first time a loan has been converted into a donation, and that it is the first R30-million donation disclosed since President Cyril Ramaphosa raised the annual maximum donation limit from R15-million to R30-million in August 2025. MVC argues said the primary issue is that there is no information about the actual donors under We are the People. There is no website, no registered directors, and no formal registration on the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) database, MVC revealed, describing this as a loophole in the PPFA, which is meant to promote transparency. MVC said while the PPFA uses a dual disclosure mechanism, requiring both the receiving party and the donor to submit forms indicating their identity, registration, or trust numbers, the public is frequently left in the dark about who the true donor is. MVC intends to submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to uncover information about unidentified donors and is exploring legal avenues to make the IEC's quarterly reports more detailed and transparent. The IEC's latest quarterly report reveals that political parties collectively disclosed just under R100-million in private funding. The lion's share of disclosed private funding went to the DA, which led recent declarations with R57-million, followed by Rise Mzansi's R30-million, and ActionSA with R9.9-million. The total value of priva