As Professor Welshman Ncube has pointed out, it is well within the capacity of Zanu (PF) to fund the elections if they are prepared to use their diamond revenue. Finance Minister Biti has made the same point, lamenting the loss of diamond revenue to the Treasury. “The UN, the US and the EU have all expressed willingness to fund the elections but their offers have been rejected by Zanu (PF) because it fears objective scrutiny. We believe that South Africa should also exercise due diligence in this matter.
With elections coming in the next six months, we call on the facilitation team to ensure that eligible voters in Zimbabwe are allowed to register and draw your attention to what is described as ‘calculated bias towards ensuring perceived Zanu (PF) voters register to vote, with simultaneous efforts being made in some quarters to prevent opposition party supporters from registering at all.”