Two companies linked to Capitec founder Michiel le Roux supplied more than half of the funding declared by South Africa’s second-largest political party during the latest reporting quarter.
Fynbos Ekwiteit donated R30 million to the Democratic Alliance between 1 April and 30 June 2026, while Fynbos Kapitaal contributed another R25 million.
The combined R55 million, approximately $3.4 million, represented about 53% of the DA’s R104.03 million in declared donations.
It was also more than the R12.75 million in compliant funding declared by every other South African political party combined.
The figures were published by South Africa’s Electoral Commission on 27 August.
Le Roux helped establish Capitec in 2001 and remains one of the bank’s major shareholders. The lender has since grown into one of South Africa’s largest banks by customer numbers.
**Two companies, one unusually large contribution**
South African law currently limits a single donor to R30 million in annual contributions to one political party.
Fynbos Ekwiteit donated exactly R30 million, while Fynbos Kapitaal contributed R25 million.
The two companies are separate legal entities. Their combined contribution can therefore exceed the limit applying to an individual donor, even though both are linked to the same businessman.
The disclosure does not indicate that the donations violated political-funding law.
It does, however, illustrate how related companies can collectively provide a party with substantially more than the amount one legal entity is permitted to donate.
Political parties must disclose donations valued above R200,000. Contributions falling below that threshold are not individually identified in the quarterly report.
The DA reported R98.75 million in cash donations and R5.28 million in donated goods and services.
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Its R104.03 million total represented approximately 89% of the R116.78 million in compliant funding declared by all parties during the quarter.
**More than other parties raised together**
Only four political parties made compliant declarations for the period.
ActionSA declared R5.5 million, the Labour Party of South Africa reported R5 million and RISE Mzansi disclosed R2.25 million.
The two Fynbos contributions alone were more than four times the amount declared by those three parties combined.
Other large DA donors included Martin Moshal, a billionaire associated with online gambling, and members of the wealthy Slack family, descendants of mining magnate Harry Oppenheimer.
Moshal donated R5 million to the DA and another R5 million to ActionSA.
The DA also received R10 million from a donor identified as D Barnes and R5 million from Lombard Consolidated.
In-kind contributions included campaign advertising, training, vehicles and other services.
**Wealthy business figures remain central to party funding**
Companies linked to Le Roux have repeatedly appeared among the DA’s largest disclosed donors since South Africa introduced mandatory political-funding reporting in 2021.
The latest contribution arrives as political parties prepare for another major contest for control of municipalities across the country.
The DA governs the Western Cape and Cape Town and has been part of South Africa’s national coalition government since the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in 2024.
Large private donations can finance advertising, organisers, voter data, campaign events and legal work. They can also determine how extensively a party competes outside its traditional strongholds.
The Electoral Commission’s figures show the scale of the financial advantage available to the DA during the quarter.
They do not disclose whether Le Roux or representatives of the Fynbos companies held policy discussions with the party.
The report also provides no evidence that the donations purchased influence over the DA’s decisions, candidates or treatment of the banking industry.
**Electoral Commission warns the ANC**
The Electoral Commission separately identified deficient declarations connected to the ANC.
The disputed declarations included R15 million associated with the Batho Batho Trust and R270,000 from Captrust.
The commission said a party that fails to comply with disclosure requirements could face enforcement action, referral to the Electoral Court or the withholding of public funding.
The DA’s compliant declarations consequently dominated the quarter while the ANC faced questions over some of its filings.
The result was an unusually concentrated funding picture, with companies connected to one of South Africa’s richest banking figures providing almost half of all compliant donations declared nationwide.
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