Staff Reporter

ZANU PF Party and the MDC-Alliance led by Douglas Mwonzora are set to benefit from a total of ZWL$500 million for the year 2022 under the Political Parties (Finance) Act (Chapter 2:11), Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has announced.

The Political Parties Finance Act was introduced to prohibit political parties from receiving donations and funding from foreign donors, whether directly or indirectly through a third person.

Minister Ziyambi, in the government gazette of 25 January 2022, revealed that ZANU PF is expected to receive ZWL$350,150.000, while the MDC will get ZWL$149,850.000.

“It is hereby notified, in terms of section 3(2) of the Political Parties (Finance) Act (Chapter 2:11), that the total amount of moneys payable to political parties in respect of the year beginning 1st January, 2022, and ending 31st December, 2022, is five hundred million Zimbabwean dollars,” reads the gazette.

The money is set to be disbursed to political parties that qualify in terms of Section 3(2) of the Act, which stipulates that every political party shall be entitled in each Parliamentary year to receive from the State the sums of money that are payable to it in terms of this Act.

The ruling party ZANU PF’s share amounts to ZW$350,150.000 for the 70.03% of the total votes it received in the last parliamentary election; and ZW$149,850.000 goes to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which received 29.97% of the total votes casted.

The newly born Citizens Coalition for Change ( CCC) which lost the MDC-Alliance name to Douglas Mwonzora who has since assumed leadership of the MDC-Alliance has missed out on the funding.

The Act stipulates that any donation accepted by a member of a political party shall be deemed to have been accepted by the political party, unless the member wilfully fails to disclose such donation to the political party, in which case the member shall be liable for contravention of the law.