PROPONENTS of the vote “No” campaign in the just-ended constitutional referendum have attacked Treasury and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for refusing to fund its publicity blitz.
VENERANDA LANGA
International Socialist Organisation general co-ordinator Munyaradzi Gwisai yesterday claimed they were entitled to State funding.
The National Constitutional Assembly and other civil society groups campaigned for the rejection of the Copac-led draft constitution, arguing that it was not people-driven and that the electorate was not given enough time to scrutinise the document.
“It did not make sense to go to an election where one side (Yes vote) has had illegal and unconstitutional use of State funds and yet money to campaign had not been made available to the ‘No’ groups,” Gwisai argued.
“Zec had an obligation to give us funds for our campaigns as provided for in Section 23A of the Zimbabwe Constitution read together with Section 3 XXIB of the Zimbabwe Electoral Act.”
Gwisai said Copac co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) at one time declared that no resources would be availed for the vote “No” campaign, adding their lawyers had approached Zec for funding, but got no response.
But Mwonzora said the vote “No” teams had themselves to blame for failing to wage a sustained campaign.
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“They must sit down and reflect because their campaigns were clumsy and they concentrated in conference rooms and on social media at the expense of mobilising people and they have no excuse for this dismal showing,” Mwonzora said.
“We were not supposed to fundraise for them as Copac. We cannot be building a house and at the same time sponsor a person bent on destroying it.”