ZANU PF is broke and apparently not ready for elections any time soon despite the party pushing for a June 29 poll, investigations by NewsDay have established.
Report by Everson Mushava
NewsDay has it on good authority that, as further proof the party’s finances are in tatters, Zanu PF has not paid its workers for the past five months. The party is also reportedly too broke to bankroll its election campaign.
President Robert Mugabe’s party is yet to come up with an election manifesto, a month before their desired June 29 poll timeline, while party primary elections still hang in the balance after several politburo meetings failed to conclude the rules and regulations to guide the selection process for candidates.
“The party’s whole election plan is in disarray owing to lack of funds,” a close source told NewsDay.
However, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said the party was ready to go for polls as soon as the election date was proclaimed.
“How can lack of money affect the preparation of an election manifesto? We are finalising the manifesto and the rules and regulations for primary elections,” Gumbo said.
He referred questions to do with money to Didymus Mutasa, the party’s secretary for administration, who doubles as secretary for finance.
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Mutasa last night demanded to know the source of NewsDay’s information.
“If you don’t tell me the source of your information, I will not comment,” Mutasa said. “Why are they telling you? Will the publication of the story give the workers the money? Whoever told you is a sellout.”
Sources within the party maintained the party was broke and that its financial woes worsened at the beginning of the year after top Zanu PF members who were bankrolling the party withdrew their financial support after it emerged they were being targeted for investigation over the source of their wealth.
Zanu PF admitted it was broke at its last annual conference in Gweru last December, although speculation was rife that it was building a war chest using illicit diamond revenue. Since 2009, the party has been reportedly relying on an overdraft with a local bank which amounted to $5 million in February 2012. The party is reportedly too broke to kick-start the election campaign, although it received 550 vehicles from businessman John Moxon for its election campaign.
A document leaked to NewsDay highlighting the sorry state of affairs in the party, claimed Zanu PF was torn apart. The document speaks of party programmes having been shelved and its restructuring exercise in a mess due to lack of funds and factionalism.
“All is not well within the revolutionary party. Companies that used to be cash cows for the party have since gone under the drain,” the document reads in part. Zanu PF is also saddled with an overbearing weight of factional fights linked to the race to succeed Mugabe, who turns 90 next year.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa are believed to be heading the warring factions although they have publicly denied this.
“Factionalism in Zanu PF has taken a new dimension and if President Mugabe is not going to descend heavily on malcontents when the politburo convenes, another hanging parliament is in the offing, if not an outright loss for the party in the general elections,” reads part of the document.
Mujuru’s camp, the document says, believes Mnangagwa and the security generals are anchoring themselves to take over from Mugabe at all costs. The probe team headed by party national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, the document further alleges, was now being used to ruthlessly deal with the Mnangagwa faction.
The probe team that has been touring provinces to try to close ranks between factions, comprising of Mutasa and political commissar Webster Shamu, is believed to belong to the Mujuru camp.
