Electoral Court fines Good Party R130k over undisclosed R900k donation

The Good Party has been slapped with R130,000 in administrative penalties after the electoral court found that it failed to disclose a R900,000 donation used to pay for campaign T-shirts ahead of the 2021 local government elections.

The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) took the party, its accounting officer, Brett Norton Herron, and Electrox Properties to court over the payment, which the court found to be an undisclosed political donation. Tourism minister Patricia de Lille is the leader of the party.

The court declared that the Good Party, Herron and Electrox Properties had failed to comply with their obligations under the Political Funding Act.

Electrox Properties paid R900,000 towards the campaign materials supplied by Kairos Communications. The Good Party received and used the T-shirts but did not report the donation to the IEC.

“[The Good Party’s denials that the R900,000 was a donation] are “far-fetched and untenable”. — Electoral court judge L R Adams

In a judgment delivered electronically on Wednesday, electoral court judge L R Adam ordered the Good Party to pay R50,000 for contravening the disclosure requirements of section 9 of the Act.

Herron and the Good Party were jointly ordered to pay a further R40,000 for breaching section 12, while Electrox Properties was ordered to pay another R40,000.

The court found that the Good Party’s denials that the R900,000 was a donation were “far-fetched and untenable”.

Adams said Electrox Properties’ explanation that the money was for a “commercial transaction” was also “so far-fetched that it can be rejected out of hand”.

The court found that the payment was made on behalf of the Good Party for T-shirts that were delivered to and used by the party.

The judge said the evidence included an invoice from Kairos Communications and communications between people involved in arranging the payment.

The court also rejected an explanation that the money was for tiles that Electrox Properties had allegedly ordered for a project in the Eastern Cape.

The judge said this version “flies in the face of the other facts in the matter”, including the invoice for the T-shirts.

The court further noted that the Good Party had failed to explain how it paid for the R900,000 worth of T-shirts or provide proof of payment.

“In my view, after weighing up all the relevant factors in the matter, including the requirement that a strong message must be sent out to role players in the electoral justice system that there should be transparency,” Adams said, stressing the importance of political funding laws in protecting voters and preventing corruption.