Almost R400 million has been spent by political parties to win the soul of South Africa on Wednesday.
As parties prepared to put their last efforts into wooing voters ahead of Wednesday's all-important fourth elections, the ANC admitted on Friday that it had spent R200 million, spurred on by the threat of the breakaway Congress of the People.
Parties in Wednesday's ballot have had to raise most of their cash themselves, as the Independent Electoral Commission funds parties based on a formula where 90 percent of the grant is based on the number of seats each party holds in Parliament and 10 percent is distributed equally between all the parties in Parliament.
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Of the R88-million the IEC distributed, the ANC received R61-million (69 percent), the DA R10,5-million (12 percent) and the IFP R5,4-million (6 percent).
COPE, which was formed five months ago, received nothing.
Over and above this, each party had to pay a deposit of R180 000 to the IEC, or a total of R4,68-million from the 26 parties to register on the national ballot.
On Wednesday, 23-million South Africans are expected to go to almost 20 000 polling stations around the country.
The IEC says everything is in place for a smooth election.
In Nongoma on Friday, the ministers of safety and security, intelligence and defence said the province would be closely monitored because they were concerned about potential political violence in KwaZulu-Natal during the elections.
"The province remains under the watchful eye of the security cluster until the election-related activities are over," Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa said.
Police Director Phindile Radebe said they would show no mercy to anyone planning to disturb the elections, "irrespective of their political organisation".
She said 23 000 police officers had been deployed across the province, with a special focus on problem areas, including KwaNongoma, Greytown, Estcourt, Ntabamhlophe, Msinga and hostels in KwaMashu, Umlazi and Lamontville.
The ANC has pulled out all the stops, hiring jets and helicopters to fly its president Jacob Zuma and other leaders across the country.
DA leader Helen Zille also chartered a jet for the last week of her campaign.
ANC NEC member and deputy campaigns manager Nomvula Mokonyane revealed yesterday that the campaign had cost the ruling party R200-million.
She said the money was raised mainly through donations, fundraising and the sale of ANC merchandise.
The ANC's national elections organiser, Fikile Mbalula, admitted that the campaign had been fuelled by the emergence of COPE.
"COPE has galvanised the ANC. Its people wanted to devour the revolution, and defined themselves as enemies of the ANC. It claimed the ANC's heritage and ran away with it."
The DA has not disclosed the amount it spent on campaigning, but it is believed to be about R60-million.
COPE has also not disclosed its campaign costs, but insiders say the cash-strapped party has not even reached the R20-million mark - and, according to reports, it still owes R1-million for the hiring of the Sandton Convention Centre, where it launched at the end of 2008.
Meanwhile, the ANC has blasted employers for expecting their workers to work on Wednesday, which is a public holiday
"The application of the 'no work, no pay' principle is tantamount to the deprivation of our people's sacrosanct right," said ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte.
