ZIMBABWE Election Commission (Zec) deputy chairperson Joyce Kazembe last month told a workshop in Harare that foreign funding of political parties was one of the main causes of electoral violence in Zimbabwe.
Report by Everson Mushava
Kazembe said parties will be in a desperate situation to protect the interests of their foreign funders. This observation, if true, does not only show the dilemma Zimbabwe is wading in, but also poses threats to democratic governance.
While Kazembe’s utterancess could be subject to debate, it brings into focus the issue of funding of political parties. Although it has influenced the country’s political landscape for years, Zimbabweans have not bothered to critically discuss on the subject.
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.
Whether the allegation is true or mere political rhetoric aimed at discrediting Tsvangirai’s march to State House, the idea has gained currency in Zanu PF circles. It has formed part of Zanu PF campaign messages against the MDC-T.
Such allegations have instilled fear in the country’s security forces and remnants of the veterans of the 1970s liberation struggle who feel Tsvangirai would reverse, if he attains power, the gains of the struggle because of his alleged alliances to the West.
Some vocal generals have publicly threatened to subvert the will of the people if the former trade unionist wins the election. Recently, MDC leader Welshman Ncube was also dragged into the mud, with Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo alleging his party was also bankrolled by foreigners.
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But Tsvangirai and Ncube have both accused Zanu PF of the same offence after it was reported the party last year received a donation of 550 campaign vehicles from Meikles shareholder John Moxon, apart from other forms of aid from China, Zanu PF’s all-whether friend.
Some deals with the Chinese, the MDCs say, are tantamount to mortgaging the country. The MDCs accuse Zanu PF of clandestine dealings in Chiadzwa using illicit diamond money to create a war chest ahead of elections.
“Democracy cannot function effectively unless political parties have enough money to carry out their activities and enough members willing to perform them,” Clare Ettinghausen noted in a position paper — Paying for Politics — in a Hansard Society of 2006. Hansard Society is a British independent educational charity which promotes parliamentary democracy.
Zimbabwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act (PPFA) provides for funding of political parties by the State, provided the party meets the threshold of 5% of the vote (Electoral Act 2:13).
Initially, a party needed 15 seats in Parliament to qualify for funding from the government before the Zanu PF government was forced to amend the Act after the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the threshold was prohibitively high.
But still, under the current Act, of the country’s registered 24 political parties, only Zanu PF and the MDCs qualify for State funding, raising suspicion such a law could have been deliberately crafted to avoid political competition.
The PPFA bans foreign funding of political parties, even from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, but curiously, does not limit donations lawfully received by political parties from private sources, which mischievously could amount to foreign funding.
The Act does not regulate how political parties use funds obtained from the State.
According to a position paper prepared by political scientist Eldred Masunungure for the election watchdog Zimbabwe Election Support Network: “Zimbabwe’s political finance system is not transparent and is thus vulnerable to corruption.
The probability is high that political parties are improperly funded from sources that are corrupt or potentially corrupting.”
He added: “The Electoral Act is silent on the corrupt flow of money in politics. The Act cannot be said to have anti-corruption provisions that ensure that parties and candidates are properly funded from sources that are neither corrupt nor potentially corrupting, and that the funds are accountable to oversight bodies and general public for their funding.”
Because of the flaws in the Act, political parties have not been taken to task over the sources of their funds when their spending is 20 times their State allocation in a parliamentary year.
Masunungure contends that parties raise funds through several ways such as membership fees, contributions by the members and fundraising activities, to name a few, but failure by governments to fund new parties is “a reflection of the extent to which the transition programmes towards multi-party democracy are directed and dominated by ‘incumbent authoritarian rulers’ who have no shortages of financial resources”.
The most useful State resource at the disposal of the incumbents is “a highly centralised control over broadcasting” and print media which ruling parties use to generate favourable views while vilifying the opposition.
In Zimbabwe, Zanu PF has been accused by rivals and media advocates of monopolising broadcasting services in the same manner the Ian Smith regime did before independence with popular cartoonist Tony Namate using a borrowed statement “the more things change, the more they remain the same” on one of his cartoons to illustrate this phenomenon.
An interpretation of the PPFA shows that a party would need to contest an election first to get a 5% of the vote in order to qualify for State funds.
This, observers say, would end up pushing parties to look for foreign funding.
Ruling parties have always been afraid of political competition. Former Malawian President the late Kamuzu Banda justified a one-party State saying: “God does not want opposition that is why he chased away Satan from heaven. Why would Kamuzu Banda want opposition in Malawi?”
But political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said foreign funding was not the major cause of electoral violence, but a culture of impunity by the incumbent and a spirited attempt to avoid political competition.
“What matters is not where the money is coming from, but credibility of sources of funds.
“At times we have locals involved in money laundering sponsoring political parties for their selfish ends,” Ngwenya said.
Ngwenya said in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF did not come out open that they hate opposition, but their violent tendencies against opposition parties and reluctance to offer funds to opposition all the years was testimony to that.
Zimbabwe Democracy Institute director Pedzisai Ruhanya said: “Maybe Kazembe is admitting that Zanu PF and the security agents are foreign-funded because they are the perpetrators of violence.
Violence in Zimbabwe is State organised and perpetrated a culture of impunity.
“Surprisingly, Kazembe has endorsed several elections including the 2008 elections that were disputed by the international community. She has never pointed her finger at Zanu PF, the perpetrator of violence in these elections. Foreign funding is not the cause of violence, Zanu PF is.”
Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has repeatedly accused the MDCs of causing violence.
