Any attempts to seize the bullet proof car that MDC Alliance supporters want to buy for their leader Nelson Chamisa will be illegal and an abuse of power, legal experts have warned.
Chamisa’s supporters were spurred to raise US$120 000 to
buy the security vehicle for the country’s mainstream opposition leader after
the vehicles he was travelling in were repeatedly attacked by Zanu PF
supporters during a countrywide tour some weeks ago.
After the fundraising initiative surpassed the target last
week, some Zanu PF sympathisers, including Information secretary Nick Mangwana
started suggesting on social media that the crowd funding fell foul of the
Political Parties Finance Act.
The law prohibits Zimbabwean political parties from
receiving external funding.
Constitutional law expert
Lovemore Madhuku told The Standard that the fundraising by the MDC
Alliance supporters was above board.
“There is nothing wrong with party supporters coming
together to buy their leader anything,” Madhuku said.
“These are ordinary people who can come together and buy
their leader a vehicle. They are not foreigners and this is not foreign
funding.
“It is not prohibited under the said Act and it will also
be evil if anyone prohibits that initiative by the supporters.
“It’s like when you are on a campaign trail and someone
wants to cook for you or provide transport for you, it is not prohibited and
cannot be prohibited by the Political Party Finances Act or any other law.
“There is nowhere they can impound this. It will be an
abuse of power and very illegal.
“There is no provision that allows that. When a vehicle
comes, as long as it pays duty and all those other things, they cannot do
anything.”
Bulawayo-based lawyer Nqobani Sithole said as long as the
vehicle was declared, transported legally into the country and custom duties
due are paid, there was no reason to confiscate it.
“The mischief of the Political Parties Finance Act is to
avoid clandestine donations,” Sithole said.
“However, if it is declared, and there is no violation of
any law, for example the Foreign Exchange and Money Laundering Act, then that
kind of donation will be above board.
“The law provides for this, but that can be an exception as
long as it is declared. At the end of the day, whatever resources parties get
should be made clear.
“There should not be any clandestine dealings, and sources
of finance should be known by the regulating authorities.”
As of last week, the fundraising campaign titled Let’s
Replace the People’s President car had surpassed its target of US$120 000.
Mangwana suggested on Twitter that there was reasonable
justification to seize the car in the same manner the late former MDC-T leader
Morgan Tsvangirai’s BMW X5 was impounded by authorities in Lupane, Matabeleland
North province in 2008.
The car has been parked at a police station since then.
“The country has a history of respecting its laws and
foreign cars that break our laws or cars that illegally find themselves on our
roads face a certain fate,” Mangwana tweeted.
Accompanying the post was Tsvangirai’s impounded vehicle.
Mangwana was unreachable yesterday when efforts were made
to get his comment.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzai Mahere refused to comment
about the vehicle.
But she said the citizens’-led initiative was evidence
enough of the commitment by Zimbabweans to free themselves from the yoke of
Zanu PF rule.
“The symbolism of what is taking place is extremely
important.
“The point is clear that a message has been sent to the
regime that the citizens are ready to converge and fund the struggle,” Mahere
said.
“Citizens are converging, and this is a clear statement
that they are rallying behind Chamisa, and that they have utter faith with the
MDC Alliance, and they will do anything to sacrifice for the struggle so that
we archive our target for the 2023 election; the six million vote, a clean
sweep in urban and rural councils. That is what the citizens are communicating
with this initiative.”
Meanwhile, MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende
said the party was pursuing the release of Tsvangirai’s vehicle in Lupane and
other vehicles in Gweru.
“The refusal by the state to release MDC vehicles is
actually one of the ways they are using to rig and manipulate the elections
because they must not deny the resources to use for purposes of campaigning.
“That car does not owe anything to the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority, we paid everything,” Hwende said.
“There is no reason except politics why the police, at the
instigation of Zanu PF, is refusing to release the car.
“This happened when we also tried to import T-shirts for
our campaign in 2018, locally they have taken our offices, our money and they
do not want us to have anything at all to use to campaign, so it is part of
their broader strategy to manipulate the election.”
Police impounded Tsvangirai’s South African registered
bullet-proof BMW X 5 towards the June 2008 elections claiming that the car was
not properly imported into the country.
The vehicle was donated to Tsvangirai by a South African
friend of Adrian Espag following reports of an assassination plot against the
once popular opposition chief. Standard
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