By Christopher Makaza
Masvingo MDC polling agents for the July 30 2018 harmonised elections have described the ZWL100 allowance they received last week from Masvingo Provincial Deputy Treasurer, Mr Emmanuel Chidaushe for the 2018 job as a mockery arguing that it has since been eroded by inflation.
Chidaushe reportedly used $24 000 from his personal pocket to pay more than 200 polling agents from Chivi North constituency who are among the 45 000 MDC agents deployed by the opposition party to various polling stations across the country.
Party activists who doubled as election agents who spoke to this publication said the party had not been sincere over the payment of their allowances ever since the election, describing the $100 they received from Chidaushe as paltry and only meant to silence and use them for the 2023 election mobilisation.
“Prior to the 2018 harmonised election, we were told by our leadership that the party was going to avail some money to cater for expenses such as food and promised each of us meaningful amount of money as a token of appreciation.
“It is over a year now, and surprisingly we have been given ZWL100 each as a token of appreciation. This money can only buy 2 litres of cooking oil and 2kg of sugar,” fumed one of the agents.
Another agent said, “The party’s members who contested in the elections disappeared soon after the election without paying us, yet they begged us to represent the party. On election day, we received no meals, spending the day on empty stomachs, unlike our Zanu PF counterparts who were well catered for by their leaders.”
The agents said that they were fully aware that the MDC leadership wants to use them again to mobilise the rural folk ahead of the 2023 harmonised election, hence giving them the paltry allowances.
“We know what these guys are up to. They just want to use us again to campaign for them ahead of the 2023 election. This time we will not allow ourselves to be used without cash up-front and they have to pay us first for the work we did in 2018. We all have families to look after and we equally need money. We are their foot soldiers and they should respect us for that,” said one agent.
Mr Chidaushe lost MDC internal primary elections in 2018 to Mr Dickson Mapipi. He accepted the primary election results and supported Mr Mapipi in the harmonised elections who, however, lost to Zanu PF`s Mathias Tongofa .
