daniel chigunwe
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
Zanu PF and the Citizens Coalition for Change will this year share ZiG$170 million that Treasury allocated in the National Budget to fund political parties meeting the required voter threshold under the Political Parties Finance Act.
The money will be distributed based on the number of seats a party got in the National Assembly.
According to Treasury’s blue book, which provides ultra-fine details of how money under the Budget is spent, qualifying political parties have been allocated ZiG$170 million for this year.
For a political party to qualify, it should have registered a five percent threshold of the total votes cast in a general election.
This leaves Zanu PF and CCC as the only political parties meeting the threshold, thereby qualifying to get a share of State funding.
Zanu PF is set to get the largest share of the ZiG$170 million given that it enjoys a comfortable two thirds majority in the National Assembly.
Zanu PF garnered 137 geographical constituencies in the August 2023 general election while CCC won 73, leaving the revolutionary party to get the bulk of the money.
A rough calculation shows that Zanu PF will get almost ZiG$111 million while CCC will get around ZiG$59 million.
Zanu PF director of information and publicity, Cde Farai Marapira said the money will go a long way in funding and enhancing the ruling party’s activities.
“As Zanu PF we appreciate these funds as they enable us to rejuvenate and revamp our party. As a party with structures, these funds assist us in getting feedback from our grassroots as well as communicating leadership positions. We have offices and officers and attendant office bills that need to be paid and these funds go a long way in ensuring this happens,” said Cde Marapira.
Advocate Nqobizitha Mlilo, spokesperson for CCC interim secretary-general, Senator Sengezo Tshabangu said while the opposition appreciates the money disbursed under the Political Parties Finance Act, they will comment substantively once the money has been released to them.
Government promulgated Political Parties Finance Act to prevent foreign funding of political activities in the country.
This was after the discovery that the main former opposition party, the MDC, and other smaller parties were receiving funding from foreign governments and organisations and using the funding for regime change.
Political parties can now receive lawful funding through Government grants under the Act, sale of party cards, fundraising activities and donations from local well-wishers from party members.
Government has also since gazetted the Private Voluntary Organisation’s Amendment Bill that prohibits non-government organisations from campaigning for political parties or candidates.
The Bill, currently before Parliament came after it emerged that civic society and NGOs were being used as conduits for illegal activities by some political parties and hostile foreign agencies.
