M&G Media publisher denies bankrolling Mugabe rival

State media in Zimbabwe on Friday accused prominent South Africa-based Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube of donating R300 000 to President Robert Mugabe’s rival Simba Makoni two weeks ahead of scheduled parliamentary polls.

Zimbabwe’s government mouthpiece Herald newspaper said it had obtained documents showing that Ncube made the payment on February 26 through a South African bank in order to provide campaign materials for Makoni, Mugabe’s former finance minister.

It was unclear how the Herald obtained the documents. Ncube, a Zimbabwean who also publishes two of the country’s only three remaining private newspapers the Standard and the Independent, denied the claims, the paper reported.

Zimbabwe’s electoral laws make it an offence for parties to receive foreign funding.

The newspaper said another man believed to be a South African national made a payment of R20 000 to the Makoni campaign on the same day.

“It does appear that you are on a fishing expedition who I am likely to vote for.

May I remind you that my vote is a secret,” Ncube told the Herald.

“You will be aware that in the recent past I have published my views on political issues and will continue to do so. I have never been secretive about my political affiliations and it is not my intention to use the Herald for that purpose,” Ncube said in a statement to the paper.

Mugabe, who has been in power here since 1980, will face Makoni and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the March 29 polls. ‒ Sapa-DPA