Does money make the politician?

A photograph extracted from the social media pages depicts a man in haste, catapult in hand, possibly bird-shooting while herding cattle in an unidentified rural setup somewhere in his home province of Mashonaland East. He is barefooted.

While this could be a pastime for perennial presidential candidate Egypt Dzinemunhenzva, it is a fact that he lives off a not-so-lucrative grinding mill business at Wedza Centre where he also does the grinding on his own.

A broken down tractor parked on the ‘business premises’ is one of the assets he boasts of, and its sight speaks volumes about a man still determined to earn an honest living regardless of the numerous challenges fate has dealt him.

It does not cost the services of an enumerator to determine his woes are mainly financial.

And it is no wonder, therefore, that the Forces of Liberation of Africa Party (FLOANP) president is one of Zimbabwean citizens who have approached the courts to have the recently-gazetted fees for participation in the 2023 elections reviewed downwards.

Save for 2018 when he opted to stand as MP for Wedza North Constituency, Dzinemunhenzva has practically contested in all presidential ballots and hopes to revive the challenge come 2023.

20000 reasons not to run for president in 2023

There are 20000 reasons why the majority of Zimbabweans cannot dream of being presidents of the country. That is the amount of USD that one has to pay to run in the 2023 race, according to the recently gazetted fees.

Statutory Instrument 144/2022 says an aspiring presidential candidate is must pay US$20 000 up from US$1 000 to have their name printed on the ballot paper.

Members of Parliament candidates will now be expected to pay USD1000 while senatorial and council candidates will pay USD 100.

Zimbabweans are split on whether this is a way of bringing sanity to the playing field or if this is blatant elitist discrimination to keep the poor out of power.

Naysayers to the fees

Perennial presidential candidate Egypt Dzinemunhenzva, MDC-A Member of Parliament for Harare North Rusty Markhamm and activist Tapiwanashe Chiriga have engaged the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to take up the matter with the courts in a bid to have the fees lowered.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi have been cited as respondents.

Lovemore Madhuku, who in 2018 lost in the race for presidency says the fees must be reviewed downwards.

"Excessive, undemocratic and unconstitutional. ZEC fails to appreciate that a "free and fair" election starts from that being a candidate must not be unaffordable to an ordinary politician. The amounts MUST be substantially reduced. US$500K for a party to field ALL candidates?" he commented on his social media handles.

CCC Dangamvura-Chikanga MP, Prosper Mutseyami said, “My appeal is for ZEC to look into this matter urgently, bearing in mind that in this country we do not have access to the US dollars.

“The amount of money which has been put across is just too exorbitant. So I call upon ZEC to review the figures and for the Hon. Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, in consultation with ZEC, to come up with a Ministerial Statement where he will explain to the House and justify the cause as well as giving room for Hon. Members to seek clarifications on behalf of the country.”

Youth Forum National coordinator Simbai Chivasa said that this move is anti-youth.

“Democracy now appears to be for sale. These amounts are too exorbitant and cannot be allowed to stand. As the young people we are going to fight for our democratic space. We are still consulting with our legal department because we feel ZEC is trying to block young people from participating in electoral processes,” said Chivasa.

Good way to weed out pretenders from real players

There have been takers for the new fees including former presidential candidate Linda Masarira who says the fees are justified in order to leave the playing field to serious candidates.

In the 2018 elections, 23 candidates contested for president and were it not for the Political Actors Dialogue(POLAD) a majority would already have sunk into oblivion.

MDC-A leader Douglas Mwonzora says the fees are ‘what the doctor prescribed’.

“Our ballot paper must be short considering that in 2018 we had 23 presidential candidates, and that’s a challenge.

“In Kenya they dealt with this issue by creating coalitions,” he said, adding that the new fees would bar opportunists from contesting in future polls.

“In Zimbabwe some people think that being a candidate is a way to fundraise. Therefore, by raising aspirants’ fees is a way of trimming (number of) candidates.

“If you have support enough that you can be a president, party members will be able to fundraise and even raise donations and those monies for parliamentary candidates must be enough. If not, it means you are wasting people’s time. This is, indeed, a good development.

Mwonzora says serious political parties should be confident on their power base from which they can crowdsource.

“Others have said this will shut out poor candidates, but the money is not coming from individual pockets, its coming from the party. If you do not have 20 000 supporters and you want to be President for which country?”

A social media commentator identified as Luv Luv concurred with the MDC-A leader, saying people without the means to contest should just leave politics and focus on things they are capable of.

How do they do it in other countries?

In the just ended Kenyan elections, the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of that country had a set of other needs that Zimbabwe has not considered.

Persons eyeing the presidential seat were expected to pay 200 000ksh (which is equivalent to US$1 668) and independent candidates were compelled to submit proof that they have at least 3 000 potential voters in their camp.

But among some requirements that may be deemed ‘prohibitive’ was the need for all presidential candidates to be holders of at least a degree from a university recognised in Kenya.

The particular person also ought to have been a Public Officer, meet moral and ethical requirements under the Leadership and Intergrity Act and should not be an undischarged bankrupt.