A Zimbabwean opposition lawmaker on Monday said his party received $2,5-million in illegal funding from three foreign states, the latest blow in a bitter feud threatening to split the main opposition apart.
”It’s true and I can confirm that the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] received funding from Ghana, Nigeria and Taiwan,” MDC lawmaker Job Sikhala said.
But a spokesperson for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai denied this, saying Sikhala was ”out of line”.
”As far as the party is concerned, that is not the issue. The MDC has never received funding from Taiwan. He [Sikhala] goes further to say Nigeria and Ghana have funded the MDC,” said William Bango.
”Mr Tsvangirai knows nothing about the alleged funding. He is surprised that Sikhala would make such false allegations,” Bango said.
Zimbabwe’s Political Parties Act prohibits parties from receiving foreign funding.
Sikhala was adamant, however, that the latest funding came from the governments of Ghana and Nigeria three months ago and that feuding over money was the root cause for a looming split within the MDC, which currently holds 41 seats in the 150-seat Parliament.
”All this fighting in the party is over money,” Sikhala said in response to a report in the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday.
It quoted him as saying the MDC received $2,5-million in funding from Nigeria, Ghana and Taiwan.
”The struggle in the party borders on the issue of controlling donor funds that were recently released by his Excellency President John Kufour of Ghana and His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,” he said.
”It’s not about the Senate elections or the interests of the people of Zimbabwe. Rather, senior party leaders are angry because of $500 000 from the West African state [Ghana] which was misappropriated by a senior official.”
Sikhala added: ”Donor funding has been drying up of late and our leaders are now busy fighting over the little money that has been coming in.”
Speculation that the MDC had been riven by divisions and a power struggle gained momentum after party leaders issued contradictory statements two weeks ago over its participation in the Senate elections on November 26.
Some MDC members said they would register senatorial candidates on Monday for nomination, contrary to Tsvangirai’s wishes at courts around the country.
Tsvangirai argues against contesting the Senate election, saying its creation ”is an ill-timed and expensive venture amid the food and economic crisis wracking the country”. — Sapa-AFP