ZANU PF’s crowdsourcing effort for Congress funds engineered by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an attempt to raise over $1million last month has failed “miserably,” as described by insiders.
This came as several MPs bunked the dinner fund raising event on Friday that had ticket offers of $100,000 each.
Only a little over $1 million was raised instead of the budgeted for $2million.
A source told ZimEye.com, raising $2 million in one night was a cheeky ambition as this is impossible during this time of economic tumble.
Report by Newsday:
Zanu PF was reportedly forced to accommodate the bulk of struggling companies – including State entities – at “cheap” tables during its fundraising dinner hosted last Friday, as most could not afford the top tables pegged at $100 000 for 10 people.
The ruling party, which intends to raise $3 million for its December conference, hosted a dinner on Friday, with the cheapest table going for $10 000 for 10 people, while the most expensive was pegged at $100 000.
The conference will be held in Victoria Falls from December 7 to 13 and over 6 000 delegates are expected to attend.
Party insiders told NewsDay yesterday that due to a poor response from the corporate world and other State-owned companies for the expensive tables, the party decided to fill the exorbitantly-priced platinum tables, which were going for $100 000 each, with companies that paid $50 000 and $30 000, to avoid public embarrassment.

 
From the Friday dinner that was addressed by Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, President Robert Mugabe’s party had hoped to raise no less than $2 million, while the balance would be raised by provinces and other party-related business enterprises.
The host province, Matabeleland North, is expected to raise at least $100 000 towards the conference.
However, sources told NewsDay that the dinner, which was also snubbed by most party MPs, who opted to attend Walter Magaya’s Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries’ all-night vigil across town, could only raise around $1 million, half of its target.
“Due to the economic situation, most companies managed to pay for the $50 000 and $30 000 tables, while the bulk of them settled for the ordinary $10 000 tables,” a source said.
“There were two companies seated at the $100 000 tables, while the rest of the platinum tables were occupied by
those who had paid less.”
According to insiders, the party had prepared 50 tables for the night, 10 reserved for the platinum class, 10 for those who were to pay $50 000, and the rest for those who would have paid $30 000 and $10 000.
However, some firms paid as little as $5 000 to attend the dinner dance.
Zanu PF secretary for finance Obert Mpofu told NewsDay that the dinner dance was oversubscribed to the extent that they had to turn away some people.
“We don’t mind what people say or what you guys write, we are very happy with the response we received from the party stakeholders,” he said.
“It was oversubscribed. We even had to turn away some people who wanted to come because we could not accommodate them. We are on course to meeting the target, and we will certainly do so. I can’t tell you how much was raised because we are still tallying, validating and doing our calculations to ascertain how much was raised.
“But maybe by Wednesday (tomorrow) I will be able to know how much was raised from the dinner dance.”
Last week, the party reportedly approached some churches including the crowd-pulling Pentecostal denominations led by Magaya and Emmanual Makandiwa’s United Families International Church for funding.
Zanu PF has always been accused of coercing companies, including financially-troubled parastatals, to contribute towards its private functions.
Several companies were allegedly compelled to fund First Lady Grace Mugabe’s 50th birthday in July, five months after being forced to fund Mugabe’s birthday bash that was held in Victoria Falls.