#ElectionsZW: Mnangagwa, Mwonzora to share ZW$500 million
By Aleck Murimigwa
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF and Douglas Mwonzora’s MDC-T are going to share ZW$500 million under the Political Parties Finance Act.
This was announced in the Government Gazette of 25 January 2022.
The money shared in terms of Section 3(2) of the Act is given to political parties that attain at least 5% of the seats in Parliament.
Currently, Zanu PF and MDC-T meet those numbers.
led opposition MDC-T party has pocketed another Z$149,850,000 due to the MDC Alliance disbursed under the Political Parties Finance Act.
According to the Gazette, Zanu PF claims the lion’s courtesy of its numbers in Parliament attained from the 2018 general elections.
‘’Three hundred and fifty million, one hundred and fifty thousand Zimbabwean dollars (ZWL$ 350 150 000.00) shall be paid to the Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which received 70.03 percent of the total votes casted.
‘’One hundred and forty-nine million, eight hundred and fifty thousand Zimbabwean dollars (ZWL$149 850 000.00) shall be paid to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which received 29.97 percent of the total votes cast,” read the gazette.
Although MDC-T is receiving the money is eligibility was challenged by MDC Alliance which was led by Nelson Chamisa in the courts and the matter is yet to be concluded.
Commentators view the government’s move to award the money to Mwonzora’s faction as a way of punishing Chamisa for refusing to recognise Mnangagwa and rejecting the leader of the Opposition post in Parliament.
Chamisa who now fronts the Citizens Coalition for Change has refused to recognise Mnangagwa arguing that he stole the 2018 Presidential elections.
This is not the first time that Mwonzora has received money from the same funding. In 2020, he was accused of having abused the money to fund his congress campaign.
The latest disbursement is likely to throw the cat among the pigeons especially between Mwonzora and his deputy Thokozani Khupe who a week ago announced the split of the MDC-T declaring that she was leading another faction.
Going by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s official exchange rate, Z$149,850,000 is nearly USD$1.3 million.
#ElectionsZW: Mnangagwa, Mwonzora to share ZW$500 million
