Mr Nelson Chamisa, whose ascension to the helm of the
opposition MDC-T in February 2018 was recently nullified by the Supreme Court,
has to account for the $7 million he received under the Political Parties
Finance Act.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court ruling
which declared Mr Chamisa as an illegitimate leader of the opposition political
party and nullified decisions he made while purporting to be president.
The party was also ordered to hold its congress within the
next three months to correct the illegality, which was considered an affront to
the organisation’s founding values and constitution as a social democratic
party. Dr Thokozani Khupe, who was declared as the legitimate acting president
of the party as the most senior elected official after the demise of former
president Dr Morgan Tsvangirai on February 14 2018, told The Sunday Mail that
it was in the party’s interest to account for how public funds were used.
“The $7 million that you are referring to is political
finances money which belongs to the organisation. Whatever funds are received,
they must be accounted for. Political finances are meant to fund the activities
of the organisations and not meant to go to an individual’s pocket,” said Dr
Khupe.
“Currently, I do not have details of how the money was
used. I have read also in the media about the allegations. In the MDC-A, we
have our party MDC-T; certainly, we will be interested to find out what has
been happening with regards to public funds under the previous leadership of Mr
Nelson Chamisa. I would like to lead a corruption-free organisation and if time
permits, I would like to get to the bottom of the matter.”
Government recently released more than $7 million to the
MDC-Alliance as part of the $25 million that was shared with the ruling Zanu-PF
as funding from the Political Parties Finance Act.
The law prescribes monetary allocations to any political
party that garners 5 percent of the total votes cast in national elections.
MDC-A has already been reeling from a scandal where $2
million allegedly vanished from its coffers.
The party had to rope in a team of independent auditors to
comb through the organisation’s books. Separately, the party has begun
preparations for the congress, with a call for nominations for the party
presidency set to be announced in the coming weeks. Sunday Mail
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