Zapu scramble for funding

THE Dumiso Dabengwa-led Zapu, whose second elective congress is scheduled for next week, is in a last minute scramble to raise the required funds to host the two-day indaba.

The inaugural congress, which gave Dabengwa the mandate to lead the party for five years, was held in August 2010 at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds, soon after the party broke ranks with the ruling ZANU-PF.

The party's special indaba, which was supposed to be held in August this year, had to be postponed owing to a cash crunch.

It is now being held from December 15 to 17 at the Amphitheatre in Bulawayo under the theme: "2018, A Critical Revolutionary Relay: Zapu The Answer."

The party had targeted to raise US$200 000 to host a successful congress, but by Monday, only US$80 000 had been raised.

Zapu deputy national spokesperson, Patrick Ndlovu, told the Financial Gazette this week that preparations for the congress had been a tall order for the party leadership, because the ongoing cash crunch gripping the country had also affected them.

"It has not been easy to source the money, however, we are 90 percent there. The inflow of funds has been very slow and we had to make a lot of sacrifices. We are still appealing for more funds from our members," said Ndlovu, adding that on top of US$1 monthly members' subscriptions, they were requesting for additional US$3 from members as they intensify the fundraising drive.

He was, however, quick to say that the collection rate was also very low as the majority of party members were financially constrained.

It is understood that only provinces in the Diaspora were up to date with their subscriptions.

Business persons in the party had also stepped in to provide food for the delegates, besides making many other contributions.

According to Ndlovu, the party was still working with provincial structures to establish how many people would be coming for the indaba, which had to constitute at least 3 000 delegates to be termed a congress.

Nominations for the party's executive positions, Ndlovu said, have started coming in from different provinces with Dabengwa largely tipped to retain the leadership of the party and be picked as the party's presidential candidate for the 2018 election.

During the 2013 election, Dabengwa managed to poll only 25 000 votes in the presidential race, which pitted him against the incumbent, President Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Welshman Ncube of a splinter MDC faction.

Also invited to the Zapu congress are the country's other opposition parties and liberation movements drawn from the Southern African Development Community region that include SWAPO of Namibia, and South Africa's National Congress and MPLA of Angola.