(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s main opposition party, secured more large donations than the ruling African National Congress and its other rivals in the lead-up to this year’s national elections, bolstering its campaign. 

The DA raised 161.6 million rand ($8.6 million) between April 1, 2021, and Sept. 30 last year, while the ANC collected 130.4 million rand, according to Bloomberg calculations based on their quarterly disclosures to the Electoral Commission of South Africa. Action SA, founded in 2021 by former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba, garnered 67.4 million rand and the populist Economic Freedom Fighters 3.5 million rand.  

The data doesn’t present a full picture of the parties’ financial positions because disclosure rules that came into effect in 2021 only require them to disclose individual donations of more than 100,000 rand. They also raise money from membership fees and those that have seats in parliament are given an annual allocation from the taxpayer-funded Represented Political Parties Fund. 

The elections must be held within the next seven months, though a date has yet to be announced. Several opinion polls show the ANC risks losing its national majority for the first time since the end of White-minority rule in 1994.

 

--With assistance from Monique Vanek.

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