The Electoral Court has fined the GOOD party R90,000 for failing to disclose a R900,000 donation linked to campaign material for the 2021 municipal elections, with Judge Leicester Adams rejecting the party’s denial of the payment. The court found that Electrox Properties paid R900,000 on GOOD’s behalf to Kairos Communications for campaign material totalling R1,972,365 in September 2021.
The court ordered GOOD to pay R50,000 for contravening section 9 of the Political Party Funding Act and a further R40,000 administrative penalty under section 12. Electrox Properties director Elias Maponya was fined R40,000 for his role in the transaction.
“The denial by Electrox Properties of this payment to Kairos on behalf of the Good party rings hollow,” Judge Adams said in the judgment, as reported by The Citizen on 27 August 2024. “The explanation by Electrox Properties that the payment was in respect of ‘a commercial transaction’, the nature of which it has chosen not to disclose, is so far-fetched that it can be rejected out of hand if regard is had to the evidence as a whole.”
Former GOOD national organiser Shaun August lodged the complaint with the IEC in June 2023, stating in an affidavit dated 12 June 2023 that he believed the party had breached its reporting obligations. The IEC investigated and referred the matter to the Electoral Court for adjudication.
GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron told News24’s City Press in June 2023 that the party had no knowledge of the payment. “We have asked the supplier to check their accounts because I am not aware of any payment of R900,000. We never made that payment and we don’t think that statement is correct,” Herron said at the time.
The case highlights enforcement challenges under South Africa’s Political Party Funding Act, enacted in 2019, which requires parties to disclose donations above R100,000 per financial year. GOOD, formed in 2018 by former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille and now led by Herron, has positioned itself as a pro-transparency party, making the court’s finding particularly damaging to its public standing.
The judgment was confirmed through The Citizen’s reporting and the published judgment on the Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII) database. It remains unclear whether GOOD or Maponya intend to appeal; Cape Flats will seek comment from GOOD’s Cape Town offices and report any response or appeal filing as the story develops.