What Happened To The #DefendTheVote Money?

“Therefore their application ought to be dismissed. In the result, the following order is made. The application is dismissed with costs.” — Chief Justice Luke Malaba

The judgement handed down by the Chief Justice dismissing the case put forward by the MDC Alliance disputing the outcome of the July 2018 elections drew an end to a dramatic and intense post-election legal battle in the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court, the highest court in all constitutional matters, whose decisions in constitutional matters bind all other courts.. The verdict was clear. The plaintiff’s application was dismissed with costs. When a case is “dismissed with costs”, it means the petition has been disallowed (failed) and the petitioner must pay the necessary costs incurred by the party responding to it ie. the trouble and expense that party went to defending and succeeding in their defense. Pundits estimated these costs to be in excess of 3 million (US) dollars. One outlet noted; “ Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa may have to fork out more than R42 million to meet the costs of his election outcome challenge he launched and lost at the country’s Constitutional Court.”

In response to this potentially devastating financial burden, the MDC Alliance fundraising machine kicked into gear and a fervent campaign to support the party financially by appealing to donors and well wishers sprouted and raised thousands of dollars within hours on the GoFundMe platform. It was a proportional response by members of a movement that have the deepest faith and highest regard for their leaders. Many Zimbabweans in the diaspora answered the call of duty to #DefendTheVote and sacrificed their hard earned dollars to stand by their leader and his cause. It was emotional, sacrificial and a proxy measure for the hope and trust that Nelson Chamisa’s followers had placed in him and his legal plea. Supporters from across the globe echoed the sentiment that #GodIsInIt as they played their crucial parts in supporting the party they love.

#DefendTheVote

As noted above, a GoFundMe page was set up as a rallying point to collect the funds and within hours, the pledges started to roll in. The citation on the page stated the following:

On 30 July 2018, Zimbabweans turned up in unprecedented numbers to exercise their right to vote in a resounding, and unequivocal cry for change. Official observers deemed the election free, but not fair and not credible. Against overwhelming public opinion amongst Zimbabweans at home and abroad; the judgement handed by the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court went against the Nelson Chamisa. Worse still, it carried a punitive condition requiring Nelson Chamisa to foot the legal costs of everyone involved. The funds required are needed as soon as possible.

These donations are being managed by Yvonne Mahlunge Gwashavanhu who is a human rights activist and solicitor (registered by SRA and Law Society of Zimbabwe). Yvonne’s background includes being one of the founding members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers and the MDC party before migrating to the UK. Yvonne has represented the Nelson Chamisa trust here in the UK in her role as MDC UK representative. The funds raised on this platform will be withdrawn into Yvonne’s account and transferred to Zimbabwe via bank transfer and Western Union directly to the Nelson Chamisa Trust Fund who are managing payment of the legal fees incurred in pursuit of a just outcome for the Zimbabwe July 2018 elections. The Nelson Chamisa Trust fund contact is Charlton Hwende whom Yvonne will liaise with to send the money to Zimbabwe. The funds will be used towards payment of the costs applied by the courts against Nelson Chamisa in relation to the Constitutional Court Hearing on the rigged July 2018 elections.

Thank you all for your generous donations to date the road may be long but together victory is certain. Please do take time to listen to the video attached from Dr Nkululeko Sibanda on behalf of Nelson Chamisa. Let’s continue to give generously, to fight this cynical ploy to silence a critical voice defending human rights, democracy and change in Zimbabwe.

In total, over 20 thousand pounds (£22,290 to be exact) was raised to #DefendTheVote. Though this was not as much as the estimated scale of the legal bills, it was a valiant effort by a determined support base. The last update on the page stated the following; “To our valued donors thank you for all your donations so far were all the money was submitted to the Nelson Chamisa Foundation and used to cover the legal costs.” The fund raising page was renamed and refocused on supporting the victims of political violence and discrimination and to some extent the matter of raising funds to defend the vote was put to rest.

The Proof of The Pudding

Since it is nearly a year since the vote, it would be good to understand how the Nelson Chamisa Foundation used the resources from donors and what proportion of the legal bills have been settled. When the fund was initially set up, the question was asked as to whether the extent of the cost burden was known but this total was never revealed. This would have helped donors to know how much more they needed to raise in order to help the movement. Secondly, the legal support that the MDC Alliance received from lawyers was pro bono according to one publication. It stated; “The three leading SA advocates who joined the MDC Alliance legal team’s Constitutional Court attempt to overturn the election result acted free of charge. The decision by Dali Mpofu SC, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and Jeremy Gauntlett SC saved the opposition coalition thousands of dollars in fees, even though they were prevented from addressing the court.”

The fact that the true cost to the party was never revealed and that they received pro bono legal services for their case raises important questions around how the funds have been employed. Given that there were over 20 respondents on the lawsuit, it is plausible that the costs of their legal representation fell to the MDC Alliance. Details around the amounts owed or indeed the payments of these amounts to the defendants is still yet to be determined.

Nelson Chamisa, in an interview during the election period once quoted a famous cliche stating that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. As a party of excellence that is committed to transparency and accountability, the MDC (Alliance) has a golden opportunity to show that they walk their talk with regard to corruption. Furthermore, given how sacrificial these donations were as well as how tough many Zimbabweans in the diaspora have it, it would be good to get clear answers and evidence to resolve the following questions:

• How much of the funds that were raised were transferred to the Nelson Chamisa Foundation?
• When did the donor funds get transferred to the Nelson Chamisa Foundation?
• What is the total amount owed in legal fees?
• What legal bills have been settled to date?
• When were these bills settled?

What do you think?