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Poll campaign expenses soar
Sifelani Tsiko & Tandayi Motsi, The Herald (Zimbabwe)
February 16, 2005

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=40777&pubdate=2005-02-16

AS the electorate has become increasingly discerning and sophisticated, the political campaign has now become a contest to win the voters mind.

Gone are the days of political harangues when all that the voter remembered at the end of a rally is how the candidates lips moved.

This development has seen campaign costs becoming prohibitive with advertising emerging as the greatest contributor to the ever-escalating costs, in the build-up to the watershed poll on March 31.

The enormous campaign expenses have become major headaches for prospective legislators who now have to dedicate most of their time towards fund-raising campaigns, if they are to cover expenses for campaign staff, their food, lodgings, stipends, fuel and vehicle maintenance costs as well as campaign materials, such as posters and T-shirts.

The cost of advertising, which skyrocketed in the last five years, has pushed the cost of political campaigns beyond the reach of many.

A survey conducted by The Herald recently indicates that it now costs between $29 000 and $140 000 for one printed T-shirt depending on the quality and type of material.

Posters now cost between $6 000 and $10 000 depending on the size and quality as well.

On average, politicians say they need between 200 to 2 000 T-shirts and between 200 to 1 000 posters per constituency.

Using the market rate of $35 000 for a T-shirt, an aspiring candidate would need $17,5 million for a batch of 500 T-shirts and up to $3 million for 500 posters, each costing $6 000.

Television and radio costs are by far the most prohibitive.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) charges $5,4 million per minute and up to $2,7 million for a 30-second television advert.

A radio advert costs $2 million per minute and up to $1 million for a 30-second commercial.

The print media is also expensive, as a candidate has to fork out between $10 million and $20 million for a full-page colour advertisement.

A black and white full-page advertisement costs between $5 million and just more than $10 million while a half-page colour advertisement requires $5 million to $10 million.

If a political party were to advertise on television for a week, 10 times a day for a 30-second advertisement, it would need a budget of up to $189 million.

To air a 10 minute radio advertisement a day and for a week, a political party or candidate may have to cough up $140 million.

It is thus timely that, in line with the Political Parties Finance Act of 2001, the Government disbursed a total of $6,5 billion to the countrys two major political parties this week.

From this amount, the ruling Zanu-PF party received $3,380 billion and the opposition MDC $3,120 billion.The disbursement was done according to the number of votes each party garnered in the last general election.

This windfall will enable the two parties to oil their campaign machinery for the March 31 plebiscite.

Zanu Ndonga, with only one seat in Parliament, does not qualify for State funding.

Officials from both Zanu-PF and MDC have welcomed the disbursement of the funds, as they said that although the money is not enough it would, however, assist them to implement various party programmes.

Zanu-PF Secretary for Finance Cde David Karimanzira said that the funds are a welcome development.

"We need to develop our politics and democracy so that the if political parties need assistance they get it, and most countries are doing that," he said.

Cde Karimanzira said the funds would not be used specifically for the partys campaign for the forthcoming election but that the ruling party would decide on how to utilise the funds for other programmes as well. He said Zanu-PF had initially set a target of $20 billion for last years youth, womens and Fourth National congresses, as well for the current campaign period. The figure has, however, been revised upwards to about $40 billion after factoring in inflation.

"I am not in a position to say how much has been raised as of now but I can only say a substantial amount of money has been raised and we are still fund raising," Cde Karimanzira said.

MDC treasurer Mr Fletcher Dulini-Ncube said the multi-billion-dollar funds would assist his party in its campaign programmes. He said the MDC is still working out how much money it will need for this years campaign programme.

"We are still working on the budget and a substantial amount is needed considering the rising inflation. We might as a party want to assist those candidates who dont have the financial resources by allocating them about $2 million each," Mr Dulini-Ncube said.

In the 2000 parliamentary election, Zanu-PF won 52 percent of the vote while MDC won 48 percent, which made the two parties eligible for State funding.

In an interview with The Herald, University of Zimbabwe lecturer and political analyst Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei said the disbursement of the funds is a noble idea since the countrys laws prohibit political parties from receiving foreign donations.

"This is one aspect under which political parties can be funded as a way of minimising support from outside," he said.

Professor Dzinotyiwei said although it was a good idea for the two main political parties to be funded by the State, the parties should raise their own funds and not rely solely on the treasury.

"The two parties should try hard to raise the funds on their own. Funds from the treasury should be channelled towards (economic) production and these are some of the issues which Parliament should review," said.

However, another UZ political analyst, Mr Eldred Masunungure, said there was nothing wrong with credible political parties such as Zanu-PF and MDC receiving funds to support their programmes from the Government.

"Development should not be viewed in a restrictive manner as you cannot talk about economic development without speaking about political development," he said.

"In Western Europe credible political parties are funded by the state and to me this is something to be celebrated and not condemned as this assists in our political development."

In March 2003, Zanu-PF and the MDC shared $250 million for the period June 2002 to June 2003.

Zanu-PF which received 52 percent of the votes cast in the June 2000 election, got $127,5 million while MDC got $122,5 million after receiving 48 percent of the vote cast.

Under the Political Parties Finance Act, a political party whose candidate gets at least five percent of the vote cast is entitled to the same proportion of the total money appropriated as the total number of votes cast for its candidates.

Prior to the 2000 general elections, Zanu-PF got the whole $35 million as it was the only party which met the criteria for funding.

MDC is the first opposition party to benefit from State funding.

In 2000, the two parties shared $65 million and $100 million in 2001.

"It takes money to pay your campaign staff, to meet their day-to-day needs and lodgings," says one aspiring candidate. "It takes money to advertise, be it T-shirts, caps, headscarves, party flags and stickers and posters.

"It even takes more money to raise more money," one candidate said as he lamented the escalating costs of political campaigns. Parties and candidates are now being forced to weigh options as part of cost-cutting measures.

Others believe the use of e-campaigns (a term coined to describe web-based communication programmes) can help politicians to reach the section of the electorate, which has access to computers particularly in urban areas.

Some candidates are even considering using cellphones to send text messages.

"Its still premature to talk of this, but its a possibility," says an IT expert with a leading Internet provider.

Some aspiring candidates say that there is need for ZBH to provide free air time for political debate before elections to enable candidates and parties get their messages across to voters at reasonable cost and to enable the public to hear about the electoral issues so as to decide on the best candidate.

The escalating campaign costs are, however, not peculiar to Zimbabwe alone, for example the 1996 US election cost about US$2,7 billion and this surged to over US$4 billion in the 2004 presidential race which pitted John Kerry against George Bush. Analysts say this translates to about US$17 per US citizen when broken down.

In some Western countries, the law restricts labour unions, financial institutions, corporations and other affluent individuals from funding candidates and political parties.

Thus expensive campaigns should never be used as grounds for deviating from the law, since candidates in the Western hemisphere which have more expensive campaigns always respect the laws of their countries.

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