Ideal Zimbabwe President, Tinashe Jonas says the financial audit reports produced by the MDC Alliance yesterday were fake and a gimmick to hoodwinked donors and gullible party members.
Speaking LIVE on Gambakwe Media, Jonas said the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa promised to release the financial statements after the press conference but is yet to do so.
He said this is an indication that the MDC Alliance does not want members of the public to look at the results in detail.
He said it is very rare for political parties to disclose details of their funding as many people who donate to political parties often don’t want their names to be disclosed.
Jonas said the ZANU PF Faction commonly known as G40, was funding Nelson Chamisa in the period leading up to the elections. Jonas said Chamisa would be reluctant for this information to be confimed and the report would not contain these sources of funds.
Jonas also revealed that the MDC received funds from foreign countries, which is illegal and therefore this information will be missing from the financial statement.
Missing $2 Million
In 2019, it was widely reported that $2 Million was missing from the MDC Alliance Bank account. Jonas said there would be no report on such missing funds in the audit report because the money was shared among the MDC Alliance leaders.
Jonas said the MDC Alliance has no political future and they are using the Audit to look for more funds.
However, previous fund raising activities have been undertaken by the MDC Alliance and there has been no reporting on such funds.
Fadzayi Mahere Key Points
Presenting the audit report on the 13th of October 2020, Fadzayi Mahere said democracy is under threat in Zimbabwe and has been bludgeoned by ZANU-PF.
She said the MDC Alliance is the only genuine and credible opposition party and is the government in waiting.
Mahere said by releasing the audited financial statements, the MDC Alliance is showing that transparency is at the heart of the party.
She reveales that the Treasurer General, David Coltart has implemented controls to combat fraud and abuse of funds and there is no room in the MDC for corruption, embesselment and mismanagement.
Mahere concluded by noting that releasing the audited financial statements was setting a foundation for future fundraising
David Coltart Key Points
During his presentation, Coltart said Zimbabwe is a rich country and yet Zimbabweans battle to survive.
He said the over the last over 40 years, ZANU-PF has been squandering thhe country’s wealth. A small oligarch is squandering the wealth at the expense of the people.
Coltart said when the MDC Alliance congress was held in Gweru in 2019, the MDC Alliance resolved to submit their accounts for an audit by an internationally recognized audit firm.
He said by publishing the audited accounts, the MDC Alliance is subjecting itself to the public.
Coltart said when Chamisa becomes President, his government will apply the same standard to the national finances.
Coltart revealed that the financial audit related to the period 27 May 2019 to 31 Dec 2019. He did not disclose reasons why the period 1 January 2019 to 30 May was omitted.
Coltart did not take any detailed questions on the financial statements and said a copy of the accounts will be made available to journalists.
He also dismissed allegations of Missing $2 Million and said these were baseless.
Coltart said the party had an income of 6.277Â Million of which 6.2 Million was from government allocated funds under the Political Parties Finance Act.
The MDC Alliance had a surplus ZWD743 000.
He said the 2019 audit was not completed earlier because of Covid.
The party also only got money to pay the auditors recently and the Auditors were then able to complete the audit.
Coltart said the Supreme Court decision to hand over the party to Khupe was illegal and put the party under financial pressure.
However, the MDC Alliance managed to raise funds from their members and is now in the black.
