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NewsDay

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Mugabe secret funds mystery

Politics
Zanu PF remains evasive on its source of funding that has seen President Mugabe splashing $20 million on agriculture inputs he intends to give to farmers ahead of next year’s elections.

Zanu PF has remained evasive on its source of funding that has seen President Robert Mugabe splashing $20 million on agriculture inputs that he intends to dole out to poor farmers ahead of next year’s elections. Report by Everson Mushava

The party has also spent over $14 million on 500 vehicles and $6,5 million on a 5 000-seater conference centre that will host its annual conference between December 4 and 9.

The projects, being implemented amid revelations that the inclusive government is broke, have raised eyebrows.

Education minister David Coltart questioned the logic of Mugabe splashing $20 million on inputs when his portfolio was only given $8 million in this year‘s Budget.

Zanu PF claims the money is coming from well-wishers, including those who benefited from the land reform programme and economic empowerment, eventhough all sectors of the economy are struggling.

Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu PF spokesperson, yesterday insisted that the party’s opponents had no right to question its source of funds.

He dismissed claims that Zanu PF was siphoning revenue from Chiadzwa diamond mines that have failed to remit adequate money to Treasury this year.

“Can they (MDCs) prove that Zanu PF is using diamond revenue?” Gumbo charged in an interview with NewsDay. We have been hearing about that several times. It is sounding like a broken record. Who are they to demand to know where we get our money from?

“Zanu PF is a big organisation and a well-established party. We get the money from our supporters who have businesses and some have just benefited from our empowerment programmes. (Finance minister Tendai) Biti is supposed to fund agriculture and if he refuses, we cannot just fold our arms.”

Mugabe’s agriculture input scheme will benefit over 800 000.

At the launch of the scheme at the Zanu PF headquarters last weekend, the veteran ruler blamed Biti for government’s failure to fund agriculture without saying where the minister was supposed to get the money from.

Coltart said Mugabe must name the source of his funds to promote transparency.

“The source of the inputs fund may be legitimate, but Zimbabweans will only know that if the President is candid about its source.

Transparency!” the minister wrote on Facebook recently.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said Zanu PF was looting the country’s diamond revenue to sponsor its election campaign.

Mwonzora’s party accuses Zanu PF of setting up parallel government structures so that it can misuse diamond revenues at the expense of other Zimbabweans.