With the African National Congress (ANC) financially constrained and failing to pay its staff leading up to the municipal election, President Cyril Ramaphosa came to the party’s rescue, making two sizable financial donations. 

According to the Second Quarter Disclosure Report on donations by political parties for the period from July to September 2021, released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Thursday, Ramaphosa made two donations of R200 000 and R166 000. 

The donations were made to the ANC on the same day, 30 August. 

While Ramaphosa gave R366 000, his brother-in-law Patrice Motsepe's firm, African Rainbow Minerals Limited, made an even bigger donation of R5 853 969. 

In total, the ANC declared that it had received a total of R22 619 969, with R15 million of this amount coming from the controversial Chancellor House. 

The party made the declarations to the IEC in line with the Political Party Funding Act 6 of 2018 and its supporting regulations. It requires all registered political parties to disclose donations above the R100 000 threshold to the IEC. 

In turn, the IEC has a duty to publish the disclosed donations.

Declarable donations are monetary in nature, in kind or combined, and above R100 000 made by a single donor to a single party in a financial year.

The ANC has come under fire from its staff for failing to pay salaries for over three months. 

The employees, who suspended their picket action in September, again embarked on a show of disapproval this week as they held lunch-time pickets at all ANC offices on Monday. 

Part of their grievances were that the party was able to raise money for the election campaign, but that its leadership was failing to, at the very least, met with employees and give them a commitment on when their salaries could be paid in full.