As Zimbabwe heads for polls later this year to end a four-year old coalition
government between Zanu PF and the two MDCs, parties have started haggling over
funding, triggering debate on how the Political Parties Finance Act could best
be amended to give parties an even playing field.
Report by Everson Mushava
Political analyst and top researcher Phillan Zamchiya says there was nothing wrong with political parties receiving foreign funding from friendly countries they share values and beliefs with.
He feels that while funding political parties internally was the ideal option, foreign funding could only become dangerous when it was conditional and the funders were attempting to advance their interests.
“There is nothing wrong with foreign funding of political parties if it is coming from friendly countries that believe in the same values with the funded political parties,” Zamchiya said.
Zamchiya’s observations came at a time President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, in office since independence in 1980, has been demonising Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “Western puppet” alleging his MDC-T was funded by Britain and its allies, particularly America.
Recently, Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo accused MDC leader Welshman Ncube of also receiving funding from the West to advance a regime change agenda.
Both MDCs and observers have hit back, saying Mugabe’s party was denying them foreign funding because it feared political competition. They accused the party of hypocrisy, denying others funding while the party received funding from foreigners. Other than that, they said, Zanu PF was funding its activities from Marange diamonds.
According to Zimbabwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act (PPFA), funding of political parties by the State is provided to any party with a 5% threshold of the vote (Electoral Act 2:13).
The 5% threshold came into being after the Zanu PF government was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1997 to review the threshold from 15 parliamentary seats, which was deemed prohibitively high.
The tragedy for democracy is that under this Act, of the country’s 25 registered political parties, only Zanu PF and the two MDCs qualify for State funding, with the rest left to fight for political survival on empty accounts.
Ironically, there is virtually no regulatory framework to nail illegal party funding or limit electoral spending. Although the PPFA bans foreign funding of political parties, even from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, it does not limit donations received by political parties from private sources, which ironically could translate into “foreign” funding.
The Act does not regulate how political parties use funds obtained from the State, neither are there checks and balances to limit chances of abuse of these funds.
Zamchiya supported the use of thresholds to access State funding saying giving every political party government funds would burden the taxpayer.
“A party needs to prove that it is a serious party with formal structures through representation in Parliament in order to get government funding,” Zamchiya said.
He asserts that even during the liberation struggle, there was support from other countries such as Sweden, Denmark, China, Russia and others. His counterpart, Professor Eldred Masunungure argues for transparency and disclosure. His research for Zesn has shown that even the mere use of State resources by “GNU partners” is not seen as abuse, because there is no regulatory instrument to judge this.
Funny enough, before the MDCs “joined” Mugabe in government, they mourned about Zanu PF’s flagrant abuse of public funds, public media and local authorities.
Another political analyst Ernest Mudzengi said giving funding to political parties was a good idea, but there should be some checks and balances to ensure the money is put to good use.
Like Zamchiya, Mudzengi believes only serious parties should access funds to avoid fly-by night parties formed only to loot State funds.
However, Simba Makoni’s Mavambo party and PF Zapu, which do not receive government funding, said denying them funding was unfair and selfish of the so called big parties with a big brother mentality saying “all political parties started off from nothing”.
“Politics is an expensive exercise in terms of campaigning without money, a party cannot do much. Denying other parties State funding is too selfish, but only serious parties should be funded, not every party,” Mudzengi said.
Story extracted from http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/04/22/parties-raise-dust-over-political-funding/
Report by Everson Mushava
Political analyst and top researcher Phillan Zamchiya says there was nothing wrong with political parties receiving foreign funding from friendly countries they share values and beliefs with.
He feels that while funding political parties internally was the ideal option, foreign funding could only become dangerous when it was conditional and the funders were attempting to advance their interests.
“There is nothing wrong with foreign funding of political parties if it is coming from friendly countries that believe in the same values with the funded political parties,” Zamchiya said.
Zamchiya’s observations came at a time President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, in office since independence in 1980, has been demonising Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “Western puppet” alleging his MDC-T was funded by Britain and its allies, particularly America.
Recently, Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo accused MDC leader Welshman Ncube of also receiving funding from the West to advance a regime change agenda.
Both MDCs and observers have hit back, saying Mugabe’s party was denying them foreign funding because it feared political competition. They accused the party of hypocrisy, denying others funding while the party received funding from foreigners. Other than that, they said, Zanu PF was funding its activities from Marange diamonds.
According to Zimbabwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act (PPFA), funding of political parties by the State is provided to any party with a 5% threshold of the vote (Electoral Act 2:13).
The 5% threshold came into being after the Zanu PF government was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1997 to review the threshold from 15 parliamentary seats, which was deemed prohibitively high.
The tragedy for democracy is that under this Act, of the country’s 25 registered political parties, only Zanu PF and the two MDCs qualify for State funding, with the rest left to fight for political survival on empty accounts.
Ironically, there is virtually no regulatory framework to nail illegal party funding or limit electoral spending. Although the PPFA bans foreign funding of political parties, even from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, it does not limit donations received by political parties from private sources, which ironically could translate into “foreign” funding.
The Act does not regulate how political parties use funds obtained from the State, neither are there checks and balances to limit chances of abuse of these funds.
Zamchiya supported the use of thresholds to access State funding saying giving every political party government funds would burden the taxpayer.
“A party needs to prove that it is a serious party with formal structures through representation in Parliament in order to get government funding,” Zamchiya said.
He asserts that even during the liberation struggle, there was support from other countries such as Sweden, Denmark, China, Russia and others. His counterpart, Professor Eldred Masunungure argues for transparency and disclosure. His research for Zesn has shown that even the mere use of State resources by “GNU partners” is not seen as abuse, because there is no regulatory instrument to judge this.
Funny enough, before the MDCs “joined” Mugabe in government, they mourned about Zanu PF’s flagrant abuse of public funds, public media and local authorities.
Another political analyst Ernest Mudzengi said giving funding to political parties was a good idea, but there should be some checks and balances to ensure the money is put to good use.
Like Zamchiya, Mudzengi believes only serious parties should access funds to avoid fly-by night parties formed only to loot State funds.
However, Simba Makoni’s Mavambo party and PF Zapu, which do not receive government funding, said denying them funding was unfair and selfish of the so called big parties with a big brother mentality saying “all political parties started off from nothing”.
“Politics is an expensive exercise in terms of campaigning without money, a party cannot do much. Denying other parties State funding is too selfish, but only serious parties should be funded, not every party,” Mudzengi said.
Story extracted from http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/04/22/parties-raise-dust-over-political-funding/
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