News / National
MDC-T raises £3,000 in UK
13 Aug 2015 at 08:57hrs | Views
MDC-T's recent fundraising junket to European capitals was a monumental failure with the opposition party raising a meagre £3,000 against a target of $100,000.
The main opposition party is in the red and sent a delegation to the UK to try and raise funds from its traditional sponsors. MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora is on record saying they were going to look for funding in Europe.
However, it has since emerged that efforts by the MDC-T delegation to meet UK authorities failed and the delegation turned to its UK and Ireland provinces for funding.
A fundraising dinner was hosted by the province in London where tables were sold for as low as 100 pounds. Impeccable sources told our Harare Bureau that the organisers of the dinner struggled to find takers for the tickets.
In the end, only £3,000 was raised, an amount not even enough to cover travel expenses for the four member delegation that visited the UK at the invitation of the British government.
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu refused to comment on the actual figure raised saying the visit was only meant to meet the party's structures in UK.
"That visit was facilitated by our UK-Ireland province for it to have an interface with the party's leadership since our congress," he said.
"All that information about fundraising is totally out of line because the trip was essentially aimed at sharing notes with our external structures."
However, MDC-T sources intimated that the delegation came back home last week almost empty handed. "It's an unfortunate situation to be precise," said the source.
"The money that was raised during that trip was only £3,000 and this was after the UK-Ireland province struggled to sell tickets for the dinner. The money wasn't even enough to cover the travel expenses incurred by the delegation."
Mwonzora is said to have unsuccessfully pleaded with party members to donate.
"Operations of the party are almost on the brink of collapse unless if we manage to find meaningful funding," the source said.
"It was in light of this development that the secretary general (Mwonzora) appealed to party members in the Diaspora to fund party activities."
The government said it was considering reviewing the funding of political parties from the fiscus after Mwonzora's admission that they were travelling to Europe to seek foreign funding ahead of 2018 harmonised elections.
The MDC-T delegation that visited the UK included Theresa Makone and Thabitha Khumalo.
The main opposition party is in the red and sent a delegation to the UK to try and raise funds from its traditional sponsors. MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora is on record saying they were going to look for funding in Europe.
However, it has since emerged that efforts by the MDC-T delegation to meet UK authorities failed and the delegation turned to its UK and Ireland provinces for funding.
A fundraising dinner was hosted by the province in London where tables were sold for as low as 100 pounds. Impeccable sources told our Harare Bureau that the organisers of the dinner struggled to find takers for the tickets.
In the end, only £3,000 was raised, an amount not even enough to cover travel expenses for the four member delegation that visited the UK at the invitation of the British government.
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu refused to comment on the actual figure raised saying the visit was only meant to meet the party's structures in UK.
"That visit was facilitated by our UK-Ireland province for it to have an interface with the party's leadership since our congress," he said.
However, MDC-T sources intimated that the delegation came back home last week almost empty handed. "It's an unfortunate situation to be precise," said the source.
"The money that was raised during that trip was only £3,000 and this was after the UK-Ireland province struggled to sell tickets for the dinner. The money wasn't even enough to cover the travel expenses incurred by the delegation."
Mwonzora is said to have unsuccessfully pleaded with party members to donate.
"Operations of the party are almost on the brink of collapse unless if we manage to find meaningful funding," the source said.
"It was in light of this development that the secretary general (Mwonzora) appealed to party members in the Diaspora to fund party activities."
The government said it was considering reviewing the funding of political parties from the fiscus after Mwonzora's admission that they were travelling to Europe to seek foreign funding ahead of 2018 harmonised elections.
The MDC-T delegation that visited the UK included Theresa Makone and Thabitha Khumalo.
Source - chronicle
