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Zimbabwe Political Parties Finance Act so that it caters for smaller
parties struggling to raise money to fund their political activities.
For a party to qualify to receive Government funding, it must meet the threshold of 5 percent of the total vote cast.
Twenty-nine political parties, including one launched on Monday, the United Movement for Democracy Party, have expressed interest to take part in the harmonised elections constitutionally due by June 29 and most of them claim they have no money.
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Apart from the three main political parties represented in Parliament and guaranteed of funding from Treasury, the rest of the parties were singing the blues, it emerged.
Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) president Dr Dumiso Dabengwa said their funding came from membership.
“We have more than 15 000 members who help us with funding. They are not necessarily supporters but recognised members,” he said.
Zanu Ndonga president Mr Gondai Vutuza said they also wanted to receive money from Government.
“We are caught up between a rock and a hard place as we neither get funding from Treasury nor from foreign donors as the law provides. We are not getting any funding from the Government because of the law which says we should have 5 percent representation of the vote.
“We are also barred from getting any funding from donors outside the country which leaves us struggling. If we approach local donors they are not willing to assist . . . They say they only know two parties – Zanu-PF and MDC-T.
“We are referred to as small parties, but every party has to start somewhere and grow big. However, we want to demystify that and prove that Zimbabwe is bigger than two parties,” he said.
Mr Vutuza said the Chipinge-based party would use the area as a springboard to garner support from other constituencies that included Chimanimani, Bikita and Chiredzi.
He added that his party derived funding from membership cards whose price was reduced from US$10 to US$1 to ensure as many people as possible would afford them.
“All along we have been using subscriptions derived from our party cards bought by members. There are also members of the community though not of our party who buy these cards, donate amounts in US$500 or US$100 bills, cows and goats to us. But these are just a few people,” Mr Vutuza.
Multi-racial Christian Democrats spokesperson Mr Mathias Guchutu said funding was a necessity for any party in the country.
“We are crying foul over the issue of funding. We are like any other party, but the problem is we are not receiving our share of resources. We are surviving from donations, but we are not getting the capital fund from the fiscus.
“Apart from indigenous business people, some of our funding comes from local companies, which I cannot disclose,” he said.
The leader of the African National Party, Mr Egypt Dzinemunenzva, declined to disclose the source of his party’s funding.
“The issue of funding is important for a party to run effectively. I will have to sit down with my ‘politburo’ and discuss what information to give you, but all I can say is we have more than a million supporters,” he said.
The law that provides for Government funding was enacted in 2000 after it emerged that some parties were being funded by hostile Western governments, a development that saw Government outlawing foreign funding of political parties.
Online Reporter