Zanu-PF, MDC-T to share $3m

Harare Bureau
Zanu-PF and MDC-T will share $3 million allocated to political parties by Treasury under the Political Parties Finance Act.
Presenting the 2015 national budget in the National Assembly last week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa allocated $3 million to political parties.

Under the Political Parties Finance Act, a political party that secured at least five percent of the total votes cast is entitled to receive funding.

Zanu-PF is expected to get the bulk of the money after it crushed the MDC-T in the July 31 harmonised elections when it won 160 out of the 210 contested parliamentary seats while the MDC-T got 49 with one going to an independent.

With the inclusion of seats from proportional representation, Zanu-PF has 197, MDC-T 70 while the MDC has two.

A rough calculation showed that Zanu-PF is entitled to about $2,3 million and the MDC-T $700,000.

Small political parties have in the past begged Government to also give them funds.

The Zimbabwe Development Party led by Kisnot Mukwazhi approached the Constitutional Court in January 2013 seeking an order to compel Treasury to provide funding to all political parties contesting national elections but the case was dismissed for lack of merit.

Government promulgated the Political Parties Finance Act and the legislation outlaws foreign funding.