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This followed the agreement that the principals President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Prof Ncube struck to take the constitution-making process forward.
The agreement by the principals was part of clearing the hurdles to holding harmonised presidential, parliamentary and council elections. It is hoped the forthcoming elections will produce a winner who will be able to come up with a workable government unlike the present one in which the parties are not pulling in the same direction.
Zimbabweans had celebrated this development with great anticipation that a solution was now on the horizon to Zimbabwe’s political contestations. What was more encouraging was the fact that the agreement on the constitution had been made by Zimbabweans themselves without any mediator.
But what is now disturbing is that the country does not have the money to hold the referendum to allow the electorate the chance to approve or reject the draft constitution and the elections that will subsequently follow.
The principals in the inclusive Government have had to task Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa to source money for the referendum and general elections from donors.
Our fear is donors might see an opportunity to influence the outcomes of the referendum and harmonised elections because they would have funded them.
Fine, the Government has made a condition that the money from donors will be channelled through Treasury for onward transmission to the relevant bodies that run elections in this country, but there is still room for undue influence.
We agree with Minister Chinamasa when he says any model to be used to source the money to run the polls should not influence the electoral processes.
“We have to have mechanisms that protect and sanitise our process from donor influence. It is a principle that no co-operating partner, through charity, should influence our processes,” said Minister Chinamasa.
“Essentially, as Zanu-PF, we have no objection if that money comes through Treasury. We will object any assistance that is poured directly to institutions that directly run the electoral process,” he added.
We hope the other parties in the inclusive Government will agree to the principle undertaken by Zanu-PF. Otherwise we foresee a stumbling block in the venture to raise money for the general elections and referendum.
The hawks that have been hovering around Zimbabwe waiting for an opportunity to effect regime change and reverse the gains of the liberation struggle are surely seeing an perfect leeway to come in and complete their mission.
Since the presidential elections in 2002, Zimbabwe has had no election observers from the European Union and other hostile Western countries.
But as we go with our begging bowl in search of money to fund the forthcoming plebiscite, we suspect the previously banned countries and blocs, will demand that their observers be allowed to observe the elections as a condition for them to fund the polls.
Unless the three parties in the inclusive Government show the same unity they have displayed in resolving differences over the constitution-making process in setting the conditions for sourcing funding, we wait to see how the mission of seeking foreign funding for elections will turn out.
Online Reporter