• the keeping by political parties of proper books of accounts, the audit of the accounts of political parties, and the form, content and publication of statements of accounts by political parties. The Regulations made by the Minister of Justice to date only make provision for issues pertaining to the ‘registration’ of political parties in order to access public funding. They are silent with regard to issues pertaining to the maintenance of records in respect donations received by political parties and the maintenance of ‘proper books of accounts, the audit of the accounts of political parties, and the form, content and publication of statements of accounts’ by political parties. We summarise below the key issues regarding public funding of political parties in Zimbabwe: • public funding constitutes a major source of revenue for the political parties that are eligible to receive public funding45; • public financing of political parties in Zimbabwe is not only for the purpose of running election campaigns but also for financing other political party activities not necessarily related to elections; • The threshold for qualification for public funding is 5% of the vote achieved in the previous general election. No other party at present, other than ZANU (PF) and the MDC, qualifies for public funding, and smaller parties have to rely on funds and other resources mobilised privately. The other parties, which are relatively smaller, remain disgruntled about the revised threshold, and have argued that unless they get funding, they will not perform well in elections to the extent of garnering the required minimum 5% of the total vote in a general election46; • while the Act provides for regulations to be made by the Minister of Justice prescribing, inter alia, the form and manner in which records of donations shall be kept by political parties and the keeping by political parties of proper books of accounts, the audit of the accounts of political parties, and the form, content and publication of statements of accounts by political parties, the Regulations are silent on these issues and, therefore, political parties are not required by law to disclose their source of donations or to account for the use of public funds allocated to them under the Act; • the incumbent party, at least before the consummation of the Inclusive Government, has had the additional advantage of having State finances and other resources at its disposal; 45 For instance, Masunungure, op cit, states at p. 26 that the MDC says that 60% of its funding is from the State, meaning that without public funding it would probably find it more difficult to function as a party. 46 Ibid. 17