Parties counting the cost of the poll

Political parties are counting the massive financial cost of the municipal elections, after millions of rand were pumped in to their campaigns.

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Johannesburg - Political parties are counting the massive financial cost of the municipal elections.

The ANC came out as the biggest spenders of the elections, which cost the ruling party in the region of R1 billion.Despite governing most municipalities, the ruling party spent more than it has ever done in order to hold on to its base.

The DA, which has increased its support in these elections, reportedly spent R350 million.

The EFF claims it spent only R10m, but many have questioned this figure as being too low.

The IFP spent R20m.

The question of party funding has been on the radar for some time.

The Right2Know campaign and other NGOs have gone to court to get an order that parties must disclose their sources of funding so that voters know who they are being supported by financially.

The court application is expected to be heard in the high court in Cape Town in coming weeks.

Parliament and the IEC give parties represented in the national legislature money to fund their campaigns and run their constituencies.

In the last financial year, Parliament gave parties R331m and the IEC gave them R121m.

The ANC, as the majority party, got the lion’s share of the funds from the two institutions.

In financial reports before the National Assembly, the IEC gave the ANC R72m, followed by the DA with R26m and the EFF R9.8m. The IFP got R3.4m and the Freedom Front Plus R1.7m.

The National Freedom Party, which did not participate in the polls, received R1.9m from the IEC while Bantu Holomisa's UDM received R1.3m from the electoral body.

Cope was one of the major losers in terms of funding because it received only R1.6m, which was much lower than the R10m it received when it had 30 MPs. Cope’s showing in this election has been poor.

Electons Bureau