FINANCE minister Tendai Biti yesterday described preparations for the July 31 elections as a horror movie, revealing that $85 million needed for the polls was yet to be found.
Report by Staff Reporter
“We don’t have money for these elections and everyone knows it,” the minister told AP news agency. “It’s a horror movie except that you are not watching the movie. You are part of it.”
Funding for the harmonised elections has remained a contentious issue in the inclusive government after the Zanu PF component rejected an offer of help from the United Nations Development Programme.
Last month, President Robert Mugabe also extended a begging bowl to the Southern Africa Development Community for the polls. But that assistance is now unlikely after the 89-year-old leader ignored advice from Sadc to postpone the polls by at least two weeks.
Mugabe has revealed that although Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa approached the Constitutional Court seeking to delay the polls, Zanu PF was against the idea. The application was rejected and the MDC formations accused Chinamasa of approaching the court with the intention of losing the case.
Biti said he had been forced to freeze payments to government departments to find money for the elections.
“The whole thing is an absolute, undiluted dog’s breakfast,” the minister was quoted as saying.
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The government has reportedly released $11 million for special voting set for July 14 and 15.
Members of the uniformed forces and election officials will vote during the ballot.
