How much each vote cost SA’s political parties this year
After a historic no-majority election in 30 years, we calculate how much each vote cost South Africa’s political-party backers in 2024.
Here’s how much each vote cost South Africa’s major political-party backers in 2024. Following last night’s official announcement of the final tally of votes, we thought it prudent to cross reference them with how much disclosed funding each political party received. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) makes such information widely available on its website. So, for the South Africa’s major political backers, which party delivered the best return on investment? And who underdelivered massively?
HOW MUCH EACH VOTE COST IN 2024
Here we will break down how many votes each political party received nationally in 2024 versus how much private funding it benefitted from, according to Business Tech. Note that the total funding figures run from 2023 up to March 2024, at the last party funding declaration by the IEC. Plus the IEC also funds each party based on the number of seats it’s held previously in the National Assembly:
| Position | Party | Votes | Funding | Rands per vote |
| 1. | ANC | 6 459 683 | R30 million | R4.64 |
| 2. | DA | 3 505 735 | R61 million | R17.41 |
| 3. | MK | 2 344 309 | undisclosed | unknown |
| 4. | EFF | 1 529 961 | undisclosed | unknown |
| 5. | IFP | 618 207 | R303 505 | R0.49 |
| 6. | PA | 330 425 | R7.3 million | R22.15 |
| 7. | VF+ | 218 850 | R131 000 | R0.59 |
| 8. | Action SA | 192 373 | R29 million | R152.85 |
| 9. | ACDP | 96 575 | undisclosed | unknown |
| 10. | UDM | 78 488 | undisclosed | unknown |
| 11. | Rise Mzansi | 67 975 | R16.7 million | R245.67 |
| 12. | BOSA | 65 912 | R15.5 million | R235.16 |
*figures correct as of March 2024. Supplied by official IEC private funding declaration document
QUESTIONS REMAIN
Following widespread condemnation of the IEC over fairness and accuracy of the 2024 vote, several questions remain unanswered over party funding. Specifically, over undisclosed funding amounts for the big winners in 2024. Namely, MK in third and the EFF in fourth.
Nevertheless, these funding figures – which don’t include any last-minute contributions from March-May 2024 and could skew the figures even further – certainly don’t make happy reading for many underperforming parties. Backers of the following parties got the least amount of return in votes for their Rands spent …
- Rise Mzansi – R245.67 per vote
- BOSA – R235.15 per vote
- Action SA – R152.85 per vote
- PA – R22.15 per vote
- DA – R17.41 per vote
Meanwhile, if the disclosed figures are to be believed, the IFP (R0.49) and VF+ (R0.59) provided relatively good value for money for the seemingly meagre input by their backers.