I was quite disturbed when I read a story that Movement for Democratic Change treasurer Theresa Makone was being grilled over party finances.
According to the story, the party’s national council grilled Makone because the party structures and employees were unhappy with how the party’s dwindling resources were being managed.
This reminded me of a conversation I had with Makone in 2015 over what had happened to an organisation called the Global Alliance for Zimbabwe which was formed in 2011 by MDC-T treasurer, Roy Bennett, ostensibly to raise funds for the party to contest the next elections after the inclusive government.
At the time it was anticipated that the elections, which were already overdue in terms of the Global Political Agreement which ushered the inclusive government, would be held in 2012.
GAZ was registered as a non-profit in Washington DC but the MDC-T was broke when it contested the 2013 elections which it lost dismally.
Makone said she did not know whether the GAZ had raised any money or not, but when she was elected treasurer of the party, after its split in 2014, there was only $53 in the bank.
I found this very odd because the GAZ had powerful people on its board as well as powerful lobbyists to raise funds for it.
Apart from Bennett, some of the key board members of the GAZ were Larry LaRocco a two-term United States congressman, former United States ambassador J.D. Bindenagel, former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee, and Zimbabwean businessman Kevin James.
James was one of the major shareholders of CFI, a Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed company, before he left for South Africa where he founded Country Bird Holdings which was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange but has since been delisted. He owns the KFC franchise in Zimbabwe.
One of the lobbyists for GAZ was Ben Goddard, who was described by the Washington Post as the “Godfather of TV lobbying”.
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