BY LENIN NDEBELE
Zimbabwe’s general elections will be conducted at today’s rates at a cost of about R291 million (Z$102 billion), the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) has said.
Local election observers will be required to pay R200 each, while observers from across Africa will fork out R2 000, and observers from foreign embassies stationed in Zimbabwe will pay a R6 000 fee.Observers from any country outside Africa will have to pay R8 000.
Journalists and foreign correspondents stationed in Zimbabwe will be asked to pay R2 000 to cover the general elections.Local journalists will have to pay R200 for accreditation.
Journalists from outside of Zimbabwe will pay R2 000.
The ZEC’s chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana, said the media was going to be monitored so that it “treats political parties equitably during the electioneering period”.
For electronic media, organisations have been asked to furnish the ZEC with timelines of their broadcasts, particularly for the live coverage of rallies.
“That will enable the media commission’s committee to monitor the media’s compliance with electoral laws,” Silaigwana said.
Nomination day
There was an outcry over the R400 000 fee for presidential candidates and R20 000 for parliamentary candidates.
However, for Zanu-PF, it is small change; the party paid for all its candidates, and the bill amounted to more than R4.8 million.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s elections officer, Ziyambi Ziyambi who is the legal and parliamentary affairs minister, said the country should not be in the hands of people who could not raise mere nomination fees.
“If you want to be entrusted with the country and you cry over US$20 000, surely you’re not serious,” he added.
An exiled former colleague of Mnangagwa in the late Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet, Saviour Kasukuwere, also filed his papers through lawyer Jacqueline Sande.
“We have managed to successfully file nomination papers on behalf of our client,” she said, adding Kasukuwere would be in the country soon to start his campaign.
In dramatic fashion, Kasukuwere was due to arrive in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, but when his flight schedule was leaked to the public, he was a no-show at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.
The president of the Labour, Economists, and African Democrats, Linda Masarira, struggled to raise the nomination fee in local currency.
“I’m funding myself, but it has been a mammoth task.
“Leadership cannot be discriminated against based on the status of your pockets. It’s a way of discriminating against the poor to participate in this election,” she said.
Coalition for Peace and Development leader Trust Chikohora also filed his papers for the presidential election.
He said his party was the only one with tangible things to offer.
“We think we’re the ones that have a viable solution,” Chikohora added.
National Constitutional Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku said he also struggled to raise the R400 000 for presidential elections.
“We looked for money for the president. We looked for money for 10 National Assembly members. We also have councillors. It was almost impossible, but we are in,” he told News24.
Douglas Mwonzora of the Movement for Democratic Change also filed his presidential candidacy papers.
He said his party would field 210 candidates for the elections. SOURCE:News24