NAP
leader,
Divine
Mhambi-Hove filed
a
Constitutional
Court
challenge against
the
nomination
fees
in
April
and
won
the
case
but
a
five-member
parliamentary
committee
dominated
by
Zanu
PF
officials
assigned
to
review
the
fees
recently
approved
the
nomination
fees.
The
opposition
party
has
since
called
on
other
political
parties
to
boycott
the
elections
as
a
way
of
protesting
the
hefty
fees.
In
an
interview
with
journalists,
Mhambi-Hove
expressed
disappointment
that
other
political
parties
were
not
speaking
out
against
the
exorbitant
costs,
which
require
candidates
to
spend
US$1
000
to
run
for
MP,
Senate,
or
provincial
council,
and
US$20
000
to
compete
for
president
during
the
Nomination
Court
on
June
21,
2023.
“They
are
quiet
about
this,
probably
because
they
have
external
funding
or
because
they
have
told
their
candidates
to
fund
their
own
campaigns.
Some
are
pursuing
selfish
motives.
They
believe
the
fewer
they
are,
the
better
their
chances
and
look
at
us
as
vote
splitters,
so
for
them,
it
is
an
indirect
advantage.
That’s
why
they
are
quiet,”
he
said,
claiming
a
few
political
parties
wanted
to
dominate
the
political
field.
“They
don’t
believe
in
democracy.
They
are
just
quiet
and
power-hungry.
As
long
as
there
are
two
candidates
on
the
ballot
paper
and
some
of
us
are
out
of
it,
they
are
ok.
So
they
are
not
going
to
pursue
the
issue
of
nomination
fees
with
the
same
spirit
that
we
have.
To
them,
it’s
their
advantage
but
we
know
soon
after
the
elections
they
will
be
crying.”
Mhambi-Hove
further
claimed
leaders
of
political
parties
were
“selfish”
because
they
desired
power
at
any
cost,
even
though
some
of
their
members
could
not
afford
the
nomination
fees.
“Some
of
their
candidates,
I
can
tell
you
right
now,
were
calling
me
time
and
again,
asking
how
far
with
our
court
case,
saying
they
were
given
instructions
that
they
must
find
money
to
pay
their
nomination
fees
and
that
has
become
a
selection
tool
for
some
of
them
because
remember
some
parties
are
not
having
primary
elections,”
said
NAP
leader.
“So
the
condition
is
for
you
to
be
a
candidate,
you
must
be
able
to
raise
US$1
000
so
the
people
are
crying
from
within
their
hearts.
Unfortunately,
they
can’t
complain
because
there
are
a
few
leaders
who
are
pursuing
selfish
motives
as
an
outcome
for
these
elections.”