#zimelections #zimdecides Biti assures nation on poll funding Saturday, 20 July 2013 00:32 View Comments Finance Minister Tendai Biti Felex Share Herald Reporter FINANCE Minister and MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti has finally given up on his efforts to scuttle the electoral process saying Government will mobilise all the required resources for the harmonised elections on time. Addressing journalists at a press conference in Harare yesterday, Minister Biti said all the required resources would be in place before the election date. “We disbursed US$20 million to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission this week and want to assure the nation that all resources would be found. No one will use the excuse of resources come election time,” he said. “We might not have the resources at the present moment but we are going to find them by July 31 notwithstanding that we are getting no joy from diamond money,” he charged. He said Government had suspended paying for anything except civil servants salaries. “We want to squeeze every dollar and direct it towards the elections,” he said. Zec has budgetted US$130 million for the elections. The somersault by Minister Biti, analysts said, was a realisation by the MDC-T that there was no going back on the elections as all the modalities had to be put in place before the elections. Party leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai told his party’s supporters in Gokwe that MDC-T wanted elections on July 31 and it was Zanu-PF which wanted a postponement. The MDC-T had for long tried to cripple ZEC’s capacity to fully exercise its mandate with Minister Biti repeatedly saying there was no money to conduct the elections. Meanwhile, the MDC-T yesterday also announced another coalition with five other ‘fly-by-night’ political parties in a bid to wrestle the Presidency from President Mugabe. The parties, that include a ZAPU faction led by Colonel Ray Ncube (retired), Democratic Party led by Mr Andrew Dhizari, United People’s Party led by Reverend Kuratidza Sandati, Zimbabwe Organised Open Political Party led by Mr Gibbs Gotora and Voice of the People led by Mr Moreprecision Muzadzi, said they would support the candidature of MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai during the elections. He said the mobilisation of resources had been made difficult by Government which had refused to accept funding from donors. Government has refused funding that comes with strings attached saying it had capacity to run its own elections. Minister Biti said his party would contest the relief given to members of the uniformed forces by ZEC who failed to cast their ballot during the two days allocated for special voting that ended on Monday. Only 29 000 people out of the 69 000 that had been approved to vote were able to cast their ballots and Zec said it would ensure that those who failed to vote exercise their right during the actual polling day. The process was marred by late delivery or non-delivery of ballots at most polling stations. Minister Biti whose party has been seeking to nullify the special vote in the courts said ZEC should approach the courts for the members of the uniformed forces to vote. He said they had since written to ZEC and Sadc over the issue claiming that the special vote had taken three days instead of two. “Otherwise these will be another area of contestation if they are allowed to vote. These are things not in the discretion of ZEC as they are clearly spelt out in the law. The law stipulates that the special vote shall take place for two days and those days shall not be less than 16 days from the actual date of polling. It was allowed to take place on the third day and it means that the process breached the law,” he said. “If the law is breached it means the whole special vote is a nullity and we are going to contest if ZEC decides otherwise.” MDC-T has been accused of sabotaging the special vote by infiltrating ZEC to countermand the chain of command and sabotaging the printing of ballot papers. Under the special vote the eligible members cast their ballots at the various places they are stationed. The ballots would then be transmitted to the areas that they registered in and would be counted together with those that would be cast on July 31. Minister Biti claimed that a number of their supporters had been attacked by Zanu-PF this week adding that cases of violence were increasing ahead of the polls. This is despite police saying the country was peaceful. On the collation with minority parties, MDC-T deputy national chairman Mr Morgan Komichi acknowledged Zanu-PF was too powerful for them hence the need for political parties to come together. Analysts said the “one man” political parties would serve no purpose as these do not have followers. Herald
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:24:45 +0000
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