(Photo: Tania Heyns/X)
Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi says there is nothing illegal about the R30 million donation his party received from an entity known as We Are The People and recently declared.
Zibi says the Act on the Funding of Political Parties provides for this donation. According to him, it is an earlier loan amounting to R30 million that has been converted into a donation.
He made it very clear at a media conference in Johannesburg on Monday that the R30 million was not recently given to Rise Mzansi. “This is previous election debt,” he explained when asked about the donation.
According to Zibi, Rise Mzansi took out several loans from We Are The People before the 2024 general election.
“We paid those loans. We paid just over a million rand to service those loans, because the Act on the Funding of Political Parties states that commercial conditions apply to those loans.
“You would have seen that Rise Mzansi did not receive large donations over the past few years. We struggled to repay that money,” hence the decision to write off the loans.
Zibi thinks there is nothing suspicious about it. “Banks do it. Companies do it. It’s treated as depreciation in accounting terms.”
According to Zibi, the entity did not only abuse Rise Mzansi, but also GOOD and the UDM before the 2024 general election. The entity also reportedly made money available for voter education.
“They support social democratic causes.”
Zibi questioned why only Rise Mzansi is polled about its declared donations while other parties do not even declare donations.
Bad Threat and Rise Mzansi. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
“When you declare, the form is filled out by both entities: the donor and the political party. Both must make declarations regarding the origin of that money.”
Zibi points out that some of the DA’s donors fill in a series of numbers for a name on those forms. According to him, the DA is not asked about his declared donations.
“So let’s be consistent, guys,” he told reporters on Monday.
“Whoever believes that the MKP has no other sources of money than the R270 000 they have declared so far also believes that pigs fly. The reason why no one asks them about it is because you know they will bully you online. You know it and you are afraid.
“Neither do you ask similar questions to the EFF, which explains almost nothing. Because they will bully you online and you know it.”
According to Zibi, even the Electoral Commission is too afraid to ask questions.
“We chose to declare this relationship with We Are The People. Other political parties don’t and it doesn’t seem to be a problem. So what does that tell us?
“This discourages us from declaring donations in the future.”