to presidential candidates, one-third to political parties in Parliament in proportion to the seats held, and one-third to parties fielding candidates for Parliament in proportion the number of candidates fielded. Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Mauritius and Zambia do not provide for public funding of political parties. In Tanzania, public funding of political parties was abolished in 20007. The management of political parties in Zimbabwe, especially during election periods, is an expensive affair. The viability of political parties will therefore largely depend on funding8. The current threshold for accessing public funding in Zimbabwe only benefits the MDC and ZANU (PF) and excludes smaller political parties. To survive, and perhaps even to grow, these small political parties will have to look elsewhere, within the confines of the law, for funding. It is believed that they have had to resort to ‘overt and covert methods of funding’ their activities9. Even the recipients of public funding themselves have to fund raise privately to supplement what they receive from the State, and this might include raising funds beyond the limits of the law. Masunungure observes that “healthy political parties are often well-resourced political machines and the more resourced they are, the more they are likely to be in electoral contests”, and that this applies to political parties in Zimbabwe. He further observes that the fortunes of parties are, by and large, determined by the amount of resources at their disposal. That is, their capacity to sponsor election candidates and organise effective campaigns is largely determined by access to financial, material and other resources. This also applies to their capacity to run a party secretariat and other affairs of the party10. In view of this, and also of other considerations discussed in this paper, the principle of public funding of political parties, in particular in Zimbabwe, appears to make sense. 7 Please refer to “Funding of Political Parties”, http://www.eisa.org.za?WEP/comprties.htm, (24/09/09). 8 For instance, the Supreme Court in United Parties v Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Others 1997 (2) ZLR 254 (SC) at pp. 269-270 observed that only by the spread of information, opinions and arguments, can voters make a responsible choice in determining whether they should support a particular candidate at an election or the party which that person represents. Effectual communication requires the expenditure of money e.g. distribution of leaflets entails printing, paper and circulation costs; speeches and rallies necessitate the hiring of venues and publicizing the function; and transportation, accommodation and meal expenses of candidates and/or party representatives have to be met. 9 st See Country Study: “Resuscitating party politics in Zimbabwe: scenarios for the 21 century”, an analysis of the MDC and Zanu-PF from the perspectives of political leadership, political architecture and party constituencies, p.8. 10 Masunungure, op cit, p.14. See also Onuoha, B., “Multi-Party Democracy and Party Finance in Nigeria”, p.7. Onuoha avers that generally, public and other means of financing political parties will determine the financial strength of the party, which in turn often determines the overall strength of the party. 6