Itai Muzondo
Masvingo City Council recently turned down a written donation plea that had been forwarded to the local authority by the province’s Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Shuvai Ben Mahofa. ZANU-PF needed the donation to go towards its national conference that was held in Victoria Falls last week.
The full council meeting that was held recently resolved that it could not donate towards the conference since it was against council tradition to donate towards political parties.
“The request for donations towards the ZANU-PF National People’s Conference to be held in Victoria Falls for the period 7 – 13 December is turned down in line with Council tradition of not making donations to political parties,” reads the council resolution.
Members of the Finance and General Purposes Committee confirmed the development and said there is no policy that regulates council to sponsor political activities.
Masvingo Mayor Hubert Fidze
“We have no policy that commits us to fund party functions. We only sponsor state functions like Heroes or Independence Day. The problem which led us to turn down the application was that the funds needed would go towards a party function and we could not give them the donation,” said Finance and General Purposes Committee chairperson, Councillor Babylon Beta.
“Imagine if we were to sponsor ZANU PF and all other political parties come seeking donations how would we accommodate them. More so, the council coffers are dry and we cannot channel money to events that do not benefit everyone,” another Finance and General Purposes Committee member Councillor Godfrey Kurauone added.
