Billionaire Michiel le Roux gave the DA half its funding

Michiel le Roux, the billionaire who founded the South African bank Capitec, gave 55 million rand to the Democratic Alliance between April and June, supplying 53% of everything the party raised and 47% of all political funding declared across South Africa in the quarter.

The figures come from the first quarterly report published by the Electoral Commission of South Africa, the body that runs elections and enforces the country’s political funding disclosure rules. Parties must declare private donations above 200,000 rand, and no single donor may give more than 30 million rand to one party in a year.

Le Roux gave through two private investment vehicles. Fynbos Ekwiteit contributed exactly 30 million rand, the maximum a single donor is permitted, and Fynbos Kapitaal added a further 25 million. Both are described in the commission’s records as his companies. The total comes to about $3.44 million at 15.97 rand to the dollar.

He founded Capitec in Stellenbosch in 2001 as a lender to low-income South Africans who had little access to conventional banking. It has since become the country’s largest bank by customer numbers and one of the most valuable companies on the Johannesburg exchange. Le Roux stepped back from the chairmanship in 2019 and remains a major shareholder.

The Democratic Alliance declared 104 million rand for the quarter, about $6.51 million, comprising 98.75 million in cash and 5.28 million in donated goods and services. That represents 89.08% of the 116.78 million rand declared by all parties combined. The party governs the Western Cape province and the city of Cape Town, and since 2024 has served in a coalition national government alongside the African National Congress. It is led by Geordin Hill-Lewis, the former Cape Town mayor.

The money is being raised for municipal elections on Nov. 4, when South Africans vote for councillors in every town and city in the country.

Other wealthy South Africans appear in the register. Rebecca Diamond and Jessica Slack-Jell, sisters and daughters of the philanthropist and horse breeder Mary Slack, gave 5 million rand each. Their grandfather was Harry Oppenheimer, who ran the diamond company De Beers and the mining group Anglo American, and the family remains among the wealthiest in Africa.

Martin Moshal, born in Durban and now resident in Sydney, also gave 5 million rand. He co-founded Microgaming, the online casino software company, and backs the sports betting operator Betway. He gave a further 5 million rand to ActionSA, the party founded by the former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, which put his combined political spending at 10 million rand across two parties.

Predator Securities, a company whose directors include FirstRand co-founder Laurie Dippenaar, gave 2 million rand. FirstRand is one of South Africa’s four largest banking groups. An individual identified only as D Barnes gave 10 million rand, the second-largest single donation of the quarter, and Lombard Consolidated gave 5 million.

The Democratic Alliance also declared donated goods and services, including 2.78 million rand of campaign advertising from the Voices of South Africa Foundation, 1.16 million from the Make a Difference Trust, and 815,891 rand from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German political foundation linked to that country’s Free Democratic Party. A couple identified as Mr and Mrs T Madilonga donated two vehicles valued at 528,655 rand.

Three other parties filed compliant returns. ActionSA declared 5.5 million rand, though a 500,000 rand donation from Siyaya Free To Air TV has not been properly declared and the commission has issued directions to correct it. The Labour Party of South Africa, launched in early 2024 by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, declared a single 5 million rand donation from the union itself, paid on June 30. RISE Mzansi declared 2.25 million rand, including 1.25 million from Ungani Investments, a company whose directors include Vhonani Mufamadi, brother of the former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi.

The African National Congress, which governed South Africa alone for three decades until 2024, is absent from the compliant list. The commission identified 15.27 million rand in deficient declarations, including 15 million from the Batho Batho Trust, which failed basic verification because of late reporting and missing proof of transactions. It also flagged late disclosures from the previous financial year, including 30 million rand from the same trust and 10 million from Botho Botho Commercial Enterprises. The commission has warned that continued non-compliance could see the party’s public funding withheld and the matter referred to the Electoral Court.