Billionaire Oppenheimer family bankrolled six South African political parties
Members of the Oppenheimer family have been the largest source of declared financial donations to South African political parties since disclosures of funding over a certain amount became compulsory in 2021.
In total, parties have reported over R880.7 million in donations over the minimum declaration threshold since the 2021/22 period.
Of this, six descendants of the Oppenheimer dynasty – Mary Slack, Nicholas Oppenheimer, Jessica Slack-Jell, Rebecca Oppenheimer, Jonathan Oppenheimer, Victoria Freudenheim – have donated over R200 million.
The Oppenheimer family, an Anglo–South African dynasty, is known for its long-term control of Anglo American and De Beers.
Ernest Oppenheimer founded Anglo American in 1917 to mine gold in the Witwatersrand. He took control of De Beers in 1929, a role his son Harry Oppenheimer assumed in 1957, and later his grandson in the 1990s.
According to IEC declaration reports, cross-checked with data from My Vote Counts, the beneficiaries of these donations since 2021 have been:
- Democratic Alliance (DA) – R62.5 million
- Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – R50 million
- ActionSA – R45.75 million
- RISE Mzansi – R30 million
- Build One South Africa (BOSA) – R12 million
- United Democratic Movement (UDM) – R1 million
For most of South Africa’s democratic era, political party funding operated in the shadows, with no legal requirement for disclosure of private donations.
Civil society organisations challenged this secrecy in court, arguing that voters had a constitutional right to know who funds and has an influence over political parties.
In 2018, the Constitutional Court agreed, ruling that Parliament must create legislation to regulate and disclose party finances.
This judgment paved the Political Funding Act, which came into effect in 2021, introducing for the first time rules on disclosure, donation caps, funding oversight by the IEC, and crucially, public access to this information.
Donations above R100,000, which has been amended to R200,000, must be disclosed with the donor’s name, with a cap of R30 million per entity/donor annually, which was increased from R15 million.
Meanwhile, smaller donations that fall below the threshold are disclosed only in total, so the public has no clue where they come from.
This means that we have but a fraction of the full picture of how parties are bankrolled. This is just what the public knows for larger donations.
Nicholas Oppenheimer
Born in 1945, Nicholas is the youngest child of Harry and Bridget and brother of Mary. According to Forbes, his current net worth sits at $10.4 billion (R180.49 billion), which makes him the third-richest person in Africa.
He was formerly the chairman of De Beers diamond mining company and of its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company, and former deputy chairman of Anglo American.
He sold his family’s 40% stake in the diamond company De Beers to Anglo American in 2012 for $5.1 billion, ending the family’s 80-year control of the company and marking their shift in focus to philanthropy.
Since 2021, R35.5 million in declared donations to two political parties have been linked to him.
Mary Slack
Born in 1943, Slack, eldest of Harry and Bridget Oppenheimer, is a philanthropist and businesswoman.
A former show-jumper, she runs the Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein stud farms and, in 2020, her family office helped rescue Phumelela Gaming with R650 million.
She previously chaired the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and served as managing director of the Market Theatre.
According to declarations to the IEC since reporting became mandatory in 2021, Slack has disclosed donating R32 million worth of donations above the minimum threshold.
Of this, R25 million went to the DA in 2021/22 and 2023/24, R6 million to BOSA in 2023/24 and 2024/25 and R1 million to the UDM in 2023/24.
Jonathan Oppenheimer
Jonathan Oppenheimer is the son of Nicholas Oppenheimer, and the grandson of Harry. He is largely the heir to a family fortune worth $10.9 billion (R200.1 billion)
He is a businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Brenthurst Foundation, the executive chairman of Oppenheimer Generations, a former executive of De Beers and a former vice-president of Anglo American.
Between 2023/24 and 2024/25, he donated R50 million to the DA and IFP, with both parties receiving R25 million.
He donated a total of R25 million to the IFP in 2023/24 and 2024/25, as well as R10.5 million to the DA in 2021/22 and 2023/24.
Jessica Slack-Jell
Slack-Jell, granddaughter of Harry Oppenheimer and daughter of Mary Slack, is a businesswoman who manages the family’s Mauritzfontein Stud farm.
She has donated at least R19.33 million to three political parties since 2021, majority of which going to ActionSA.
R11.33 million was donated to ActionSA between 2021/22 and 2022/23, while R2 million was donated to the DA in 2022/23 and R6 million to BOSA in 2023/24.
Rebecca Oppenheimer
Rebecca Oppenheimer is the daughter of Mary slack, and granddaughter of Harry Oppenheimer. She is a writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Since reporting became mandatory, it has been disclosed that she has donated R33.33 million to two political parties.
ActionSA received R3.33 million in 2021/22 while RISE Mzansi received R30 million between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Victoria Freudenheim
Victoria Freudenheim (née Oppenheimer) is one of the daughters of Mary Slack, making her a great-granddaughter of Ernest Oppenheimer, the dynasty’s founder.
She is involved in the family’s business and philanthropic endeavors, notably as a director of Mary Oppenheimer Daughters (MOD) UK, a family office managing investments and charitable activities.
Freudenheim has donated R31.08 million since 2021/22, all of which has gone to ActionSA.
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