that such a law would be unconstitutional and negate the voluntary nature of political parties55. ZANU (PF) would be hard pressed to argue that it supported the registration of political parties in good faith, in order to promote transparency and democratic accountability to the public. Indeed its motive, at least at that time, seemed to be the desire to control political parties and to unduly restrict their right to freedom of association and existence as political parties. On the other hand, while the MDC were justified to be fearful of such intentions on the part of ZANU (PF), it was misleading on their part to suggest that the registration of political parties is, per se, unconstitutional and a negation of the right to freedom of association. In the light of the mistrust and, at times, acrimony between political parties in Zimbabwe, even with the advent of the Inclusive Government involving the MDC and ZANU (PF), it is perhaps advisable that for now the issue whether or not political parties must be registered and otherwise regulated must be held in abeyance. The Consultant therefore does not support the recommendation by Masunungure that a ‘strictly impartial and inclusive body comprising of public-spirited citizens who have no partisan affiliations’ must be created to register political parties and that no political party may participate in an election unless it is registered as a political party56. The environment currently prevailing in Zimbabwe does not allow for an ‘impartial’ body comprising ‘public-spirited’ citizens. 4.4. Threshold to Access Public Funding by Political Parties In United Parties v Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Others, supra, the Supreme Court took the view, in relation to the threshold or formula used to allocate State funding to political parties, that the formula adopted to allocate State funding to political parties would determine whether the goals discussed in part 2 above would be achieved or not57. Certain formulae would do no more than entrench and re-enforce the regime of the major political parties, and sideline their minor or new opponents58. It is generally believed that large political parties gain their support partly because they have the resources to influence public opinion. Therefore a formula which gives the large political parties more money than the smaller or 55 Ibid. Ibid, p.5 and p.28. It makes no difference that Masunungure proposes, however, that parties that do not wish to participate in elections and therefore to be considered for public funding should not be compelled to register. 57 The goals referred to here, which we have previously discussed, are to ensure equality of opportunity in a liberal democracy characterized by inequalities in the distribution of wealth; to make enough money available for competitive campaigns to occur; to allow new entrants, while not encouraging frivolous candidates or propping up decaying political organizations; to reduce the possibility for undue influence; and to prevent corruption. 58 Refer to pp.267-269 of the judgment. 56 22